Carse, I find your caution a
great handicap. You keep gassing me; I am locked in; and since I have
observed no excitement aboard the ship, apparently there are no
friends anywhere near me. You have stripped me of everything." His
eyes lowered for a moment. "Everything save this ring."

On the forefinger of his right hand, set simply in a platinum band,
was a large dark stone.

"A black opal," said Dr. Ku. "I have worn it for years and I prize it
highly. Perhaps at the last I will give it to you as a memento of
these past years, Captain Carse." And he went into the cabin, where
they gassed him again.

* * * * *

The third week passed.

Crossing the orbit of Mars, now approximately in opposition to
Jupiter, the _Sandra_ streaked on into the last leg of her long
voyage. The sun was a vast, flame-belching disk on her starboard side,
and ahead lay Earth, growing each hour. Cheerfulness pervaded the
ship, nerves were relaxing, faces lightening. Carse could not remember
when Eliot Leithgow had worn a smile so constantly. It was only
natural, for to the old scientist and his personal assistants Earth
was home, the fulfillment of every desire, the reality and symbol of
normal life and love of man.

But to Hawk Carse the Green Planet was not home. He was the
adventurer, and wanderer, the seeker of new places with the alluring
lustre of peril. Earth was to him little more than a port of call, and
it brought him sadness to see how eagerly Leithgow stared at her
growing face. Their parting was not far away now.

The _Sandra_ logged off the miles. Then came the day when only ten
thousand were left, and, soon after, five thousand. Deceleration had
long since been begun. Slightly but unvaryingly the ship's momentum
slackened until she arrived at the two thousand mile mark, where the
great curving stretch of the planet filled her bow windows, and the
well-remembered continents and seas stood out as clearly as on a
tilted classroom globe.

Carse leaned musing in a corner of the control cabin, oblivious to the
well-meaning but toneless voice with which Ban Wilson, at the
electelscope was butchering a song. A gentle tap on the shoulder
summoned him out of his study.

He turned and saw that Leithgow had come to him. Carse smiled at the
old scientist, and said:

"Well, Eliot, we'll be in soon now. Apparently we've made it safely,
and there's nothing to stand between you and the day you've waited f