ea!" he exclaimed.

"It does not seem infeasible," Professor Bernardi admitted tightly. By
now, he was suspicious of everyone and everything. _If I had never
broached the idea of space travel to those peasants_, he thought, _I
would be on Earth in the dubious comfort of my own home. That's what
comes of trying to help humanity._

* * * * *

"Well," observed the captain as the heavy raft hit the water with a
tremendous splash, "she seems to be riverworthy." He rubbed his hands in
anticipation, much of his surliness gone, now that he was about to deal
with something he understood. "Since she is, in a manner of speaking, a
ship, I suppose I assume command again?" He waited for objections,
glancing involuntarily in Jrann-Pttt's direction. There were none.
"Right," he said, repressing any outward symptoms of relief.

He efficiently deployed the personnel to the positions on the raft where
he felt they might be least useless, the gear being piled in the middle
and surmounted by Algol, who naturally assumed possession of the softest
and safest place by the divine right of cats.

_The captain does have a commanding presence_, Miss Anspacher thought,
_and a sort of uncouth grace. Moreover, he cannot read my mind--in fact,
he often cannot even understand me when I speak._

"All right!" he bellowed. "Cast off!"

The vine unfastened the rope that it had insouciantly attached to a tree
trunk, remarking to the others, "Don't let the trees intimidate you.
Actually their bark is worse than their bite." Now it dropped lithely on
board the raft, looking for a comfortable resting place.

"Please don't twine around me," Miss Anspacher said coldly. "If you
insist upon coming with us, you will have to choose an inanimate object
to cling to."

"All right, all right," it tried to soothe her. "No need to get yourself
all worked up over such a mere triviality, is there? I'll just coil
myself tidily around one of those spare logs. I must say you're warmer,
though."

_Yes, she is, isn't she?_ thought the captain, and squeezed her hand.

* * * * *

The raft drifted down the river. Since the current was flowing in the
desired direction, there did not appear to be any need to use the poles,
and everyone sat or reclined as comfortably as possible in the
suffocating heat. The yellow haze had become so thick that they seemed
to be at the bottom of a custard cup.

[Illustration