ther does man," Benson replied. "It's his brain that makes him
deadly. Look at those skulls, the ear placement, the eyes and forehead.
If I know my skull formations, I think man has met his intellectual
equal at last--maybe, even, his superior."

"What makes you think they may have superior minds?" As a psychologist I
felt Benson was jumping to a pretty quick conclusion.

"The atmosphere. Forty percent oxygen. Invariably, on other planets,
that has meant higher metabolisms in the fauna. In a humanoid animal
that strongly implies high mental as well as physical activity."

As if to prove his point, the two little creatures tired of the
one-sided interview, bent slightly at the knees and leaped at a
forty-five degree angle high into the tree branches. The female caught
the first limb with her long fingers and swung out of sight into the
foliage. The male hung by his long toes for a moment, regarding us with
an inverted impish expression, then he, too, vanished.

I grunted with disappointment. Benson said, "Don't worry, they'll be
back. Soon enough."

* * * * *

As we returned to the clearing Jane Benson and Susan, my wife, came to
meet us. Although both brunettes rated high in feminine charms among the
forty women of our group, somehow they appeared a little ungainly and
uncommonly tall against my mental image of the little people we had just
left. Their faces were pale from the long interment in the ship, and
bright spots of sunburn on cheekbones and forehead gave them a clownish,
made-up appearance.

"We've sorted and identified the fruits," Sue called to us. "The
handbook is right. They're delicious! We've got a feast spread. Just
wait until you--" She caught our expressions. "What's wrong?"

Benson shrugged. "You girls go on ahead and get the crowd together. I
have an important announcement to make." Jane pouted a little and
hesitated, but Benson insisted. "Run along now, please. I want to gather
my thoughts."

We trailed after them slowly. I didn't like Benson's moody reaction to
our discovery of an intelligent life-form. To me it was exciting. What
fabulous news I would have to send back with the first liaison ship to
contact us four years hence! And it would be entirely unexpected,
because the original exploration party had failed to make the discovery.
That in itself was an intriguing mystery. How could twenty-two
scientists, bent on a minute examination of a planet's flora