"Sorry," Jarl Gare said. And laughed. The Jovian's face convulsed with fury. Then he relaxed. His moon face was smiling as he looked at Jarl Gare. "Your turn now," he said. The Venusians gathered around Waltk. One of them took a pouch from beneath his breech clout. His webbed fingers dug in and came out with a salve that he smeared on the spurting wrist stumps. The blood ceased spurting. Then the Venusians turned to Jarl Gare. They circled him, but broke the circle a little to let a wizened Venusian through. He was carrying a Venusian pearl. Jarl Gare gasped at the size of the pearl. He reached out for it, but the old wizened Venusian drew back and a picture grew in Gare's mind. "You're going to hide it in an oyster shell, and throw that shell in with a pile of others?" The conical wrinkled head bowed. The wizened oldster reached into a pouch inside his breech clout and pulled out a handful of gray powder. The Venusians moved toward the pool, forcing Jarl Gare to move along with them. At the pool's edge, the old Venusian dipped in a wrinkled hand and drew out a handful of water. He mixed the water with the powder until it became the consistency of paste. Jarl Gare watched as the old Venusian smeared the oyster shell one of the other Chameleon men handed him with the grayish paste. Then Jarl Gare saw the great, gray pearl handed to the old man. He placed the pearl in the shell. Then the other Venusians turned Jarl Gare away from the oldster, one of them placing his cold webbed fingers across the Earthman's eyes. Jarl Gare heard the rattle of the old shells, other rustling motions behind him as he waited. What test was this the Chameleon men were planning? Finally, the hands dropped from his eyes. He turned around. The oldster was pointing at a huge pile of the oyster shells. * * * * * A picture was in Jarl Gare's mind again. So they wanted him to find the shell? That was a fine test! All the shells were gray, and the pile to which the elder pointed was approximately twenty feet high. How could he find one gray shell among so many other gray ones? He looked up and saw Waltk grinning at him, the stumps of his arms folded. "How can I find it?" he asked Waltk. "One gray one among so many others?" "Gray?" asked Waltk. "It is not gray. It sticks out of that pile like a torch. The shell is smeared with red." "Red?" asked Jarl Gare curiously. "Red? I see no red." "That's right," Waltk said, and there was laughter in his voice. "You're color-blind, Earthman. I knew it when you first told me the vegetation was gray--that the pearls were gray. The Chameleon men knew it, too. You said they almost could read your mind." Waltk threw back his head and roared with laughter. Jarl Gare spun his eyes to the Chameleon men who were watching. A picture grew in his mind. He had until sunset to find the shell--the _red_ shell. And he was color-blind....