em. His mind is not
well."

The aged Alwa said, "Aie. Stay beside him. Perhaps as his body heals,
his words will be beautiful words as were the words of the Father-of-Us
who, in the Terran tongue, taught us of the gods and their good."

So they cared for him well, and his wounds healed, and the day came when
he opened his eyes and saw the handsome blue-complexioned face of Nrana
sitting there beside him, and Nrana said softly, "Good day, Mr. Man of
Earth. You feel better, no?"

There was no answer, and the deep-sunken eyes of the man on the sleeping
mat stared, glared at him. Nrana could see that those eyes were not yet
sane, but he saw, too, that the madness in them was not the same that it
had been. Nrana did not know the words for delirium and paranoia, but he
could distinguish between them.

No longer was the Earthling a raving maniac, and Nrana made a very
common error, an error more civilized beings than he have often made. He
thought the paranoia was an improvement over the wider madness. He
talked on, hoping the Earthling would talk too, and he did not recognize
the danger of his silence.

"We welcome you, Earthling," he said, "and hope that you will live among
us, as did the Father-of-Us, Mr. Gerhardt. He taught us to worship the
true gods of the high heavens. Jehovah, and Jesus and their prophets the
men from the skies. He taught us to pray and to love our enemies."

And Nrana shook his head sadly, "But many of our tribe have gone back to
the older gods, the cruel gods. They say there has been great strife
among the outsiders, and no more remain upon all of Venus. My father,
Alwa, and I are glad another one has come. You will be able to help
those of us who have gone back. You can teach us love and kindliness."

The eyes of the dictator closed. Nrana did not know whether or not he
slept, but Nrana stood up quietly to leave the hut. In the doorway, he
turned and said, "We pray for you."

And then, joyously, he ran out of the village to seek the others, who
were gathering bela-berries for the feast of the fourth event.

When, with several of them, he returned to the village, the Earthling
was gone. The hut was empty.

Outside the compound they found, at last, the trail of his passing.
They followed and it led to a stream and along the stream until they
came to the tabu of the green pool, and could go no farther.

"He went downstream," said Alwa gravely. "He sought the sea and the
beach. He was well