Walking back to their ship, Mark continued to show an excitement that was unusual for him. "You know what?" he said. "I'll bet we're going to learn what the dog's name is." "I doubt if whoever wrote this thing would bother about a trifle like that." "But that's important. You'll see, Pop, you'll see!" At the ship, Sam inserted the sheets into the reader section of his translator and started the motor. The selector swung into action. "Before it can translate, it has to decide what language this is," he explained. "Will that take long?" "A few minutes if we're lucky, a couple of hours if we're not. After that, I think the translation itself shouldn't take more than a few minutes. While we're waiting, we might as well eat." "I'm not hungry," said Mark. "You'd better eat anyway." "Just a little bit, maybe. You know what I think, Pop? When I call the dog by his name, he'll know I'm his friend and he'll come to me. Then he'll really be my pet." "Don't count too much on it," said Sam. And thought once more how lonely his son must be, to center so much hope in a half-wild beast. A light glowed suddenly in the translator. The selector had found the proper language. Now it began to translate. Twenty minutes later, its work had been completed. As Sam silently began to read, Mark bumped against him, knocking the translation from his hand. Sam's first reaction was anger at the boy's clumsiness. Then he became aware of the hope and the fear that lay behind Mark's excitement, and bit back the angry words which had almost reached his lips. "Easy, Mark, easy," he said. He picked up the translation again and sat down. "You can read it over my shoulder, if you want to." "I just want to find out the dog's name." "The important thing is his master's name. Julian Hagstrom, it says. And he was on a spaceship with his brother, Raoul." Mark's eyes had skipped ahead. "Look, Pop, here's the dog's name--Arkem! I never heard of a dog having a name like that! What does it mean?" "I wouldn't know," muttered Sam absently, still reading. But Mark wasn't actually interested in his answer. He ran outside. "Arkem!" he called. "Arkem!" There was nothing he could interpret as an answer. After a moment or two he came into the ship again, his face betraying his disappointment. "I guess he doesn't hear me. He's too far away." Sam nodded. He had put the translation down and was staring straight ahead of him, as if looking through the ship's side. "Is anything the matter, Pop?" "What? Oh, no, nothing's the matter. I was just thinking about what I read here." "They had an accident, didn't they? How did it happen?" * * * * * "It happened because their ship wasn't as good as ours. Julian Hagstrom, the man who was killed, was buried here by his brother. Raoul put this record in the stone to mark his grave. I think he also engraved something on the stone itself. But that's been worn away."