ew boss!"

A chorus of cries and howls greeted this. They gathered around Parr with
fawning faces. "You boss! You fight Ling--beat 'im. Huh, you boss!"

At the racket, Ling recovered a little, and managed to squirm into a
sitting posture. "Yes," he said, "you boss."

With one hand holding his half-smashed skull, he lifted the other in
salute to Parr.

* * * * *

It took time--several days--but Parr got over his first revulsion at the
bestial traits of his new companions. After all, in shedding the wit and
grace of man, they were recovering the honest simplicity of animals. For
instance, Ling was not malicious about being displaced, as Shanklin had
been. Too, there was much more real mutual helpfulness, if not so much
talk about it. When one of the horde found a new crop of berries or
roots or nuts, he set up a yell for his friends to come and share. A
couple of oldsters, doddering and incompetent gargoyles, were fed and
cared for by the younger beast-men. And all stood ready to obey Parr's
slightest word or gesture.

Thus, though it was a new thought to them, several went exploring with
him to the north pole of their world. The journey was no more than
fifteen miles, but took them across grassy, foodless plains which had
never been worth negotiation. Parr chose Ling and another comparatively
intelligent specimen who called himself Ruba. Izak, the mild-mannered
one who had first met and guided Parr on the night of his banishment
from the human village, also pleaded to go. Several others would have
joined the party, but the deterioration of legs and feet made them poor
walkers. The four went single file--Parr, then big Ling, then Ruba, then
Izak. Each carried, on a vine sling, a leaf-package of fruit and a melon
for quenching thirst. They also carried clubs.

The plain was well-grassed, as high as Ling's knuckled knee.
Occasionally small creatures hopped or scuttled away. The beast-men
threw stones until Parr told them to stop--he could not help but wonder
if those scurriers had once been men. The hot sun made him sweat under
his plate-armor, but not for all the Solar System would he have laid it
aside.

They paused for noonday lunch in a grove of ferny trees beyond the
plain, then scaled some rough lava-like rocks. In the early afternoon
they came to what must be the asteroid's northern pole.

Like most of the asteroids, this was originally jagged and irregular.
Martian engineers