lifa pressed young Samuels into service and finished loading the
halftrack. While they were waiting for MacFarland, senior geologist and
acting executive of the camp, the natives of the planet appeared.

Gallifa saw them first, and more from surprise than fear hopped to the
platform beside the truck seat and swiveled the automatic pellet rifle
until the muzzle covered the visitors.

"Samuels," he called softly. "Hey, Samuels, we have a welcoming
committee."

Samuels stopped his work and peered over the back of the truck. He was
well trained. He didn't move an inch.

"Are they intelligent?" he asked. His view was curtailed slightly by a
tool box.

"I can't tell," Gallifa said quietly. "They're clannish, though. There
must be fifteen, maybe twenty, in the group. Climb over the back of the
truck and take a look," he suggested.

Samuels vaulted lightly into the truck.

Gallifa looked quizzically at his aide. "Well, what do you make of
them?" he asked. "Do you think they could have anything to do with
Bradshaw's sudden crackup?"

Samuels removed his hat and ran stubby fingers through his blond,
short-cropped hair. "It's hard to tell," he answered. "But they sure
look harmless to me. In fact, they look somewhat like a bunch of Celtic
little people."

Gallifa frowned. He didn't understand.

"You know," Samuels grinned. "Gnomes or elves with big ears. Large dwarf
model."

Gallifa turned his attention back to the visitors and laughed. "I see
what you mean," he agreed. "Ears and all. They do seem harmless. But
it's strange they aren't upset by us. They could be semi-intelligent."

Gallifa stepped gingerly from the truck. He really didn't expect to find
a modicum of intelligence. The spotting cruiser had orbited around the
planet for more than seventy-two hours before the crew had been
deposited, and had almost definitely established the contrary.

On every Earth-type planet that had ever been discovered, if there were
intelligent life it had developed according to water-oxygen evolution;
and the culture invariably parallelled _homo sapiens_. It was as if a
busy and preoccupied nature had hit upon a pattern which worked and
never bothered to change the mold. There were minor deviations, of
course, biologically and structurally, but never culture-wise.

The swift, but amazingly discerning survey, had revealed absolutely no
evidence of any intelligence on the planet. There were no artifacts,
dwellings, roads, dams,