He had only begun to ponder this curious equation when he realized that perhaps his falling there really had nothing to do with it at all. Perhaps something else, something much more formidable than a mere intruder, had panicked them. Visions of man-consuming cobras and slavering tigers flashed through his mind. Whatever it was that had so upset these people, he wasn't going to hang around to welcome it single-handedly. Leaping to his feet, he also ran for cover. * * * * * He crashed through the scratchy frontier of brush and came to an abrupt stop. Crouching before him, her back fortunately turned, was a plumpish, dark-haired woman, hiding her face in her hands. Marc crouched quickly down beside her and for a moment there was a tense silence. It was as though they waited for a bomb to drop. As the moments passed, however, and nothing occurred, Marc cleared his throat. The woman flinched nervously. "Shh!" she hissed. "Be quiet!" "What for?" Marc asked. "What happened?" "Didn't you see?" the woman asked. "I must have missed it," Marc said. "Well, just be quiet," the woman said again, and once more the silence returned. Finally, out of sheer curiosity, Marc was forced to reopen the conversation. "This seems to be my day for crouching down with women," he said, trying a social tone. "Is it?" the woman said. "I suppose there's a reason why?" "I don't know," Marc said, feeling that this exchange was not destined to make a great deal of sense. "But I'm beginning to be just a little stiff from it." "From what?" the woman asked absently. "From crouching down with women," Marc said, wishing he hadn't started the discussion in the first place. "Do you mean you get stiffer from crouching down with women than with men?" the woman asked. "Well, I don't know about that," Marc said. "I've never crouched down with any men. Do you suppose it would matter if I stood up and stretched a bit?" "For heaven's sake!" the woman gasped. "Do you want to be seen?" "Why shouldn't I be seen?" Marc asked. "You know very well," the woman said, "the way you are." "The way I am?" "Certainly," the woman said. "You know how people get about that sort of thing." "Oh?" Marc said, completely lost. "Say, how am I, anyway?" "How should I know how you are?" the woman said primly. "I don't allow myself to think about those things." "But you were just talking about it," Marc said, "and about how people get about it." "Your mind should be above it all," the woman said. "If you're asking for compliments, you've come to the wrong party." "I persistently get the feeling," Marc said, "that we're talking about two different things." "Weren't you at the last meeting when the citizen's committee showed up and started chasing us around?" "Why no," Marc said interestedly, "I guess I missed that one." "The way people act," the woman said peevishly, "you'd think we nudists aren't decent or something."