me the day equals thirty-two of ours, so that half of it would be
night."

"Then I won't see you for almost two weeks of our time, Jrann-Pttt? Are
you sure you wouldn't like to spend the rest of the night in our ship?
Plenty of room, you know."

"No, thank you, dear lady. The jungle is my natural habitat. I should
feel stultified by walls and a ceiling. Don't worry--I shan't run away."

"Oh, I'm not worried," Miss Anspacher said coyly, throwing a stick of
wood on the fire.

"Small riddance if he does."

"Captain Greenfield!"

That part of the captain's face not concealed by his piratical black
beard turned red. "Well, if he can read our minds, he knows damn well
what I'm thinking, anyway, so why be hypocritical about it?"

"That's right--he is a telepath, isn't he?" Miss Anspacher's face grew
even redder than the captain's. "I forgot he.... It _is_ getting late. I
really must go. Good night, Jrann-Pttt."

"Good night, dear lady." The saurian bowed low over her hand.

Leaning on the captain's brawny arm, Miss Anspacher ploughed through the
mud to the ship, followed by the mosquito-bat and Algol, who had been
toasting themselves more or less companionably at the fire. The door to
the airlock clanged behind all four of them.

* * * * *

The other saurian's head appeared again from the bush. _Jrann-Pttt_, the
insistent thought came, _shall I rescue you now_?

_Why, Dfar-Lll? I am not a prisoner. I'm quite free to come and go
as I please. But let's get away from the strangers' ship while we
communicate. They do have a certain amount of low-grade perception and
might be able to sense the presence of another personality. At any rate,
they might look out of a port and see you._

Keeping the illuminator on low beam, Dfar-Lll led the way through the
bushes. _Seems to me you're going to an awful lot of trouble just to get
zoo specimens_, the youngster protested, disentangling its arms from the
embrace of an amorous vine. _There's really no reason for carrying on
the work since Lieutenant Merglyt-Ruuu ... passed on._

Jrann-Pttt sat down on a fallen log and, tucking up his graceful tail,
signaled his junior to join him. _In the event that we do decide to
return to base, some handsome specimens might serve to offset the
lieutenant's demise._

_Return to base? But I thought we were...._

_We haven't found swamp life pleasant, have we? After all, there's no
real reason why we shouldn'