sane. He must! Ramirez says it's no
language. Stoughton says it's no language. And _I_, Jonathan thought
savagely, say it's no language.

But--

Margery tiptoed into the study with a tray.

"But Psych," he continued aloud to her, "Psych says it _must_ be a
language because, they say, Easton is _not_ insane!"

"Oh, dear," sighed Margery, blinking her pale blue eyes. "That again?"
She set his coffee on the desk in front of him. "Poor Jonathan. Why
doesn't the Institute give up?"

"Because they can't." He reached for the cup and sat glaring at the
steaming coffee.

"Well," said his wife, settling into the leather chair beside him,
"_I_ certainly would. My goodness, it's been over a month now since he
came back, and you haven't learned a thing from him!"

"Oh, we've learned some. And this morning, for the first time, Easton
himself began to seem puzzled by a few of the things he was saying.
He's beginning to use terms we can understand. He's coming around. And
if I could only find some clue--some sort of--"

Margery snorted. "It's just plain foolish! I knew the Institute was
asking for trouble when they sent the _Rhinestead_ off. How do they
know Easton ever got to Mars, anyway? Maybe he did away with those
other men, cruised around, and then came back to Earth with this
made-up story just so he could seem to be a hero and--"

"That's nonsense!"

"Why?" she demanded stubbornly. "Why is it?"

"Because the _Rhinestead_ was tracked, for one thing, on both flights,
to and from Mars. Moonbase has an indisputable record of it. And
besides, the instruments on the ship itself show--" He found the
report he had been searching for. "Oh, never mind."

"All right," she said defiantly. "Maybe he did get to Mars. Maybe he
did away with the crew after he got there. He knew the ship was built
so that one man could handle it in an emergency. Maybe he--"

"Look," said Jonathan patiently. "He didn't do anything of the sort.
Easton has been checked so thoroughly that it's impossible to assume
anything except, (a) he is sane, (b) he reached Mars and made contact
with the Martians, (c) this linguistic barrier is a result of that
contact."

* * * * *

Margery shook her head, sucking in her breath. "When I think of all
those fine young men," she murmured. "Heaven only knows what happened
to them!"

"You," Jonathan accused, "have been reading that
columnist--what's-his-name? The one that's been w