on slowly, his eyes on Kenny's cropped head. "I
think we'd better take a look at his shoes," he said.

We edged up slowly, taking care not to disturb the others, pretending we
were sauntering toward the well on a before-breakfast stroll.

It was then that Molly came out of her shack. She stood blinking for an
instant in the dawn glare, her unbound hair falling in a tumbled dark
mass to her shoulders, her eyes still drowsy with sleep. She wore
rust-colored slippers and a form-fitted yellow robe, belted in at the
waist.

Molly wasn't beautiful exactly. But there was something pulse-stirring
about her and it was easy to understand how a man like Kenny might find
her difficult to resist.

Bill slanted a glance at Kenny, then shrugged and looked straight at
Molly. He turned to me, his voice almost a whisper, "She's got to be
told, Tom. You do it. She likes you a lot."

I'd been wondering about that myself--just how much she liked me. It was
hard to be sure.

Bill saw my hesitation, and frowned. "You can tell if she's covering up.
Her reaction may give us a lead."

Molly looked startled when she saw me approaching without the mask I
usually wore when I waltzed her around and grinned and ruffled her hair
and told her that she was the cutest kid imaginable and would make some
man--not me--a fine wife.

That made telling her all the harder. The hardest part was at the
end--when she stared at me dry-eyed and threw her arms around me as if I
was the last support left to her on Earth.

For a moment I almost forgot we were not on Earth. On Earth I might have
been able to comfort her in a completely sane way. But on Mars when a
woman comes into your arms your emotions can turn molten in a matter of
seconds.

"Steady," I whispered. "We're just good friends, remember?"

"I'd be willing to forget, Tom," she said.

"You've had a terrible shock," I whispered. "You really loved that
little guy--more than you know. It's natural enough that you should feel
a certain warmth toward me. I just happened to be here--so you kissed
me."

"No, Tom. It isn't that way at all--"

I might have let myself go a little then if Kenny hadn't seen us. He
stood very still for an instant, staring at Molly. Then his eyes
narrowed and he walked slowly toward us, his hands still wedged in his
belt.

I looked quickly at Molly, and saw that her features had hardened. There
was a look of dark suspicion in her eyes. Bill had been watching Kenny,
t