any case, there was no longer any use in his staying here, and
it might be wise if he left at once.

Accordingly, he filled his pockets with food from the pantry and slipped
out of the farmhouse; before his absence was discovered he was well on
his way down the road.

3

That night, Hradzka slept under a bridge across a fairly wide stream;
the next morning, he followed the road until he came to a town. It was
not a large place; there were perhaps four or five hundred houses and
other buildings in it. Most of these were dwellings like the farmhouse
where he had been staying, but some were much larger, and seemed to be
places of business. One of these latter was a concrete structure with
wide doors at the front; inside, he could see men working on the
internal-combustion vehicles which seemed to be in almost universal use.
Hradzka decided to obtain employment here.

It would be best, he decided, to continue his pretense of being a
deaf-mute. He did not know whether a world-language were in use at this
time or not, and even if not, the pretense of being a foreigner unable
to speak the local dialect might be dangerous. So he entered the
vehicle-repair shop and accosted a man in a clean shirt who seemed to be
issuing instructions to the workers, going into his pantomime of the
homeless mute seeking employment.

The master of the repair-shop merely laughed at him, however. Hradzka
became more insistent in his manner, making signs to indicate his hunger
and willingness to work. The other men in the shop left their tasks and
gathered around; there was much laughter and unmistakably ribald and
derogatory remarks. Hradzka was beginning to give up hope of getting
employment here when one of the workmen approached the master and
whispered something to him.

The two of them walked away, conversing in low voices. Hradzka thought
he understood the situation; no doubt the workman, thinking to lighten
his own labor, was urging that the vagrant be employed, for no other pay
than food and lodging. At length, the master assented to his employee's
urgings; he returned, showed Hradzka a hose and a bucket and sponges and
cloths, and set him to work cleaning the mud from one of the vehicles.
Then, after seeing that the work was being done properly, he went away,
entering a room at one side of the shop.

About twenty minutes later, another man entered the shop. He was not
dressed like any of the other people whom Hradzka had see