Within a hundred feet of the ship, one of the men fell out of the group, panting. He squinted at the vessel, then crept forward, circling to the right. Within arm's reach, he walked back and forth alongside the hull, giving it a close inspection. Finally he paused and fumbled with his clothes. Cassidy started. "Look what he's doing!" "Against the side of the ship, too!" said Mason. Hearing them, the native jerked his head up toward the hatch, then backed off for a better view. "Stinkers!" he yelled, shaking his fist. "Out here come and fight! Take you both on I can!" When they only gaped, he whirled and sped off to rejoin the chase. "You see?" said Cassidy. "Now what do you think?" "I think we'd better get that directional stabilizer working." * * * * * It took more than an hour to locate the trouble. "The rectifier circuit's shot," Cassidy said finally. "But maybe we can patch it up. Some of the amplifiers I suppose we can do without. But a hyper-oscillator we've got to have." "Say, you're doing it too," said Mason. "What?" "Talking like the natives." Cassidy looked up. "Guess it's something that grows on you. Well, what do we do now?" "Maybe the natives can help us." "If they don't even know where they're from, they probably left their volts and amps behind too. But that's only an assumption." "In that case," Mason said with a sigh, "there's only one thing left to do--take Riva up on her invitation to, ah, play." "Funny," Cassidy grunted, heading for the hatch. "I was only joking." "I'm not. If we can get in that house, we'll know for sure whether or not they've developed electronic devices." Halfway across the field, they were almost run down by the laughing girl and her retinue of galloping suitors, if that's what they were. She was a well-proportioned blonde whose wind-frothed tresses suggested a nymph in flight. At the fence, they were confronted by Riva, who smiled up at Cassidy and said, "You I was just going to come and get. Ready to play yet you are?" He looked away and cleared his throat. "Not quite, Riva. We'd like to visit your house." "It's some interesting games I know. Enjoying them you'd surely be." Her smile, revealing even teeth that contrasted ruddy cheeks, was as persistent as her intent on playing. Staring at the girl, Cassidy wrestled with a pang of wistful envy over the Olympian life he had witnessed thus far on this world. Maybe they were all irresponsible and childlike. But was that bad? * * * * * Mason pointed in alarm toward the meadow in front of the next estate. An ominous-looking, furry thing, supported on six or eight spindly legs, was racing across their field of vision. "Hurt you he won't," the girl assured them, noticing their apprehension. "Nothing to be afraid of there is." "_What_ is it?" Cassidy was still trying to determine whether it was an overgrown spider or a dry-land octopus.