, feeling his way up. At the top he
paused, resting again.

As yet he had had no luck. So far he had not met any of the natives. It
would be through them that he would find the mysterious Pipers that were
stealing the men away, if such really existed. If he could find the
natives, talk to them, perhaps he could find out something. But as yet
he had been unsuccessful. He looked around. The woods were very silent.
A slight breeze moved through the ferns, rustling them, but that was
all. Where were the natives? Probably they had a settlement of some
sort, huts, a clearing. The asteroid was small; he should be able to
find them by nightfall.

* * * * *

He started down the rocks. More rocks rose up ahead and he climbed them.
Suddenly he stopped, listening. Far off, he could hear a sound, the
sound of water. Was he approaching a pool of some kind? He went on
again, trying to locate the sound. He scrambled down rocks and up rocks,
and all around him there was silence, except for the splashing of
distant water. Maybe a waterfall, water in motion. A stream. If he found
the stream he might find the natives.

The rocks ended and the stream bed began again, but this time it was
wet, the bottom muddy and overgrown with moss. He was on the right
track; not too long ago this stream had flowed, probably during the
rainy season. He went up on the side of the stream, pushing through the
ferns and vines. A golden snake slid expertly out of his path. Something
glinted ahead, something sparkling through the ferns. Water. A pool. He
hurried, pushing the vines aside and stepping out, leaving them behind.

He was standing on the edge of a pool, a deep pool sunk in a hollow of
grey rocks, surrounded by ferns and vines. The water was clear and
bright, and in motion, flowing in a waterfall at the far end. It was
beautiful, and he stood watching, marveling at it, the undisturbed
quality of it. Untouched, it was. Just as it had always been, probably.
As long as the asteroid existed. Was he the first to see it? Perhaps. It
was so hidden, so concealed by the ferns. It gave him a strange feeling,
a feeling almost of ownership. He stepped down a little toward the
water.

And it was then he noticed her.

The girl was sitting on the far edge of the pool, staring down into the
water, resting her head on one drawn-up knee. She had been bathing; he
could see that at once. Her coppery body was still wet and glistening