en,
you could use intermittent operation and get down," Arcot acknowledged.

"Anybody know what silly fail-unsafe tricks we overlooked in the
_Ancient Mariner_?" Fuller asked.

"That," said Wade with a grimace, "is a silly question. The 'I didn't
think of that' type of failure occurs because I didn't think of that,
and the reason I didn't think of it is because it never occurred to me.
If we'd been able to think of 'em, we would have. We'll probably get
stuck with a few more yet, before we get back. But at least we can clean
up a few bugs in these things now."

"Forget it for now, Wade, and get that chow on," suggested Fuller. He
was lying on his back, clad only in a pair of short trunks, completely
relaxed and enjoying life. "We can do that when it's dark here."

"Fuller has the right idea," said Morey, looking at Fuller with a
judicious eye. "I think I'll follow his example."

"Which makes three in favor and one on the way," said Arcot, as he came
out of the ship and sank down on the soft sand of the beach.

They lay around for a while after lunch, and then decided to swim in the
cool waters of the lake. One of them was to stand guard while the others
went in swimming. Standing guard consisted of lying on his back on the
soft sand, and staring up at the delightful contrast of lush green
foliage and deep blue sky.

It was several hours before they gathered up their things and returned
to the ship. They felt more rested than they had before their exercise.
They had not been tired before, merely restless, and the physical
exercise had made them far more comfortable.

They gathered again in the control room. All the apparatus had been
taken in; the tanks were filled, and the compressed oxygen replenished.
They closed the airlock and were ready to start again.

As they lifted into the air, Arcot looked at the lake that was shrinking
below them. "Nice place for a picnic; we'll have to remember that place.
It isn't more than twenty million light years from home."

"Yes," agreed Morey, "it is handy. But suppose we find out where home is
first; let's go find the local inhabitants."

"Excellent idea. Which way do we go to look?" Wade asked.

"This lake must have an outlet to the sea," Morey answered. "I suggest
we follow it. Most rivers of any size have a port near the mouth, and a
port usually means a city."

"Let's go," said Arcot, swinging the shining ship about and heading
smoothly down along the line of the