He was walking along, head erect, apparently quite at ease, while the litter bearers and Koroby could barely drag themselves with him. The girl's garment was a tattered ruin. Her skin was gritty with dust, and she was bleeding from many scratches. She tripped over tangled roots and exclaimed in pain. Then the man took one of the strange implements from his belt, pressed a knob on it, and light appeared as if by magic! He handed the stick to Koroby, but she was afraid to touch it. This was a strange light that gave no heat, nor flickered in the breeze. Finally she accepted it from him, but carried it gingerly at arm's length. She refused to believe that he had no name, and so he named himself. "Call me Robert. It is an ancient name on Terra." "Robert," she said, and, "Robert." But at last she could go no farther. She had forced herself along because she wanted to impress this indifferent man that she was not as inferior as he might think--but now she could not go on. With a little cry almost of relief, she sank to the ground and lay semi-conscious, so weary that the very pain of it seemed on the point of pleasure. Robert dipped down, scooped her up, and carried her. Lights glimmered ahead; shouts reached them. It was a searching party, Yasak in it. The litter-carriers who could still speak blurted out what had happened. "A green light--loud sounds--fire--this man there--" and then dropped into sleep. "Someone carry these men," Yasak ordered. To Robert he said, "We're not very far from the path to the City now. Shall I carry the girl?" "It makes no difference," Robert said. "You will stay with me while you are in the City, of course," Yasak said, as they walked. He eyed this handsome stranger speculatively, and then turned to shout an necessary order. "You, there, keep in line!" He glanced at Robert furtively to see if this had impressed him at all. * * * * * It was day. Koroby sat up in bed and scanned her surroundings. She was in Yasak's house. The bed was very soft, the coverlets of the finest weave. The furniture was elegantly carved and painted; there were even paintings on the walls. A woman came to the bed. She was stocky and wore drab grey: the blue circles tattooed on her cheeks proclaimed her a slave. "How do you feel?" she asked. "Fairly well. How long have I been ill?" Koroby asked, sweetly weak. "You haven't been ill. They brought you in last night." "Oh," Koroby said disappointedly, and sat upright. "I feel as if I'd been lying here for weeks. Where's Yasak? Where's the strange man in armor?" "Yasak's out somewhere. The stranger man is in the room at the end of the hall." "Fetch me something to wear--that's good enough," the girl accepted the mantle offered by the slave. "Quick, some water--I must wash." In a few minutes she was lightly running down the hall; she knocked on the door of Robert's room. "May I come in?"