and pile and let his feet sink in the
mud hole and wriggled his toes. He was laughing soundlessly, and his
face was wet in the wind. He couldn't think. He couldn't remember where
he was and why, and he stopped caring, and after a while he felt better.

The stars were swimming over him, dancing crazily, and the mud cooled
his feet, and the sand was soft behind him. He saw a rocket go up on a
tail of flame from the station, and waited for the sound of its blast,
but he was already asleep when it came.

It was far past midnight when he became conscious of the dog licking
wetly at his ear and cheek. He pushed the animal away with a low curse
and mopped at the side of his face. He stirred, and groaned. His feet
were burning up! He tried to pull them toward him, but they wouldn't
budge. There was something wrong with his legs.

For an instant he stared wildly around in the night. Then he remembered
where he was, closed his eyes and shuddered. When he opened them again,
the moon had emerged from behind a cloud, and he could see clearly the
cruel trap into which he had accidentally stumbled. A pile of old
boards, a careful stack of new lumber, a pick and shovel, a sand-pile,
heaps of fresh-turned earth, and a concrete mixer--well, it added up.

He gripped his ankles and pulled, but his feet wouldn't budge. In sudden
terror, he tried to stand up, but his ankles were clutched by the
concrete too, and he fell back in the sand with a low moan. He lay still
for several minutes, considering carefully.

He pulled at his left foot. It was locked in a vise. He tugged even more
desperately at his right foot. It was equally immovable.

He sat up with a whimper and clawed at the rough concrete until his
nails tore and his fingertips bled. The surface still felt damp, but it
had hardened while he slept.

He sat there stunned until Hooky began licking at his scuffed fingers.
He shouldered the dog away, and dug his hands into the sand-pile to stop
the bleeding. Hooky licked at his face, panting love.

"Get away!" he croaked savagely.

The dog whined softly, trotted a short distance away, circled, and came
back to crouch down in the sand directly before Hogey, inching forward
experimentally.

Hogey gripped fistfuls of the dry sand and cursed between his teeth,
while his eyes wandered over the sky. They came to rest on the sliver of
light--the space station--rising in the west, floating out in Big
Bottomless where the gang was--Nicho