Our survey quickly showed that an island on one part of the planet was as wild and rugged as an island on another, so that a landing site could be chosen haphazardly for all the difference it made. We selected a relatively clear area in a great valley on one of the islands that happened to be under us at the time, and I brought the _Solarian_ to rest. Only then did I realize how tired I was. Pearce, rechecking his initial tests of the atmosphere, reported that the carbon dioxide content was not as high as had been expected. We would be able to venture from the ship without the necessity of wearing oxygen helmets. The lighter gravity of Venus, lessening muscular effort and thereby the need for deep or quick breathing, would be an aiding factor. We didn't leave the ship immediately, however. Like myself, Pearce and Sandley had become aware upon landing of being exhausted, and it was agreed to sleep first. Later we ate, and then arming ourselves with machine-pistols and various pieces of scientific equipment, we unsealed the port and stepped out upon the surface of Venus. It was warm and humid, but not oppressively so. The air seemed strangely heavy to our lungs, laden with a host of rich, exotic odors. There was a deep, somnolent quiet, broken at intervals by faint pipings and twitterings from unseen creatures that might have been birds. A warm, soft wind stirred the vivid foliage of queer trees and shrubs at the edges of the clearing. Sandley murmured, "Not bad at all. Eden must have been a little like this." Pearce shrugged. "Maybe--but we'd better keep in mind that this is a strange world. There may be dangers here of which we know nothing as yet." With this admonition prominent in our thoughts, we got to work, setting up our equipment, analyzing samples and making notes. The days that followed were more or less a repetition of this. We were constantly on the alert at first and seldom wandered very far from the ship. But as we encountered no inimical life forms, either plant or animal, we were gradually encouraged to roam further and further beyond the clearing. * * * * * Sandley was busy with his camera, when not otherwise occupied with biological studies. He was often gone for hours at a time. I was thrown much in Pearce's company, since my work was frequently connected in various ways with his. "I wonder if we'll turn up anything, like they did on the Mars expedition," Pearce said one day, gazing about him with a narrow, speculative look. I asked, "How do you mean?" "Stuff that will bring money back on Earth," Pearce said. "Gold, for example." For some reason which I couldn't explain just then, I found myself clutching eagerly at the thought. "It's possible," I said. "We've hardly scratched the surface as yet." Pearce gazed searchingly at me for a moment. Finally he asked, "What was your motive for accompanying this expedition, Farris? To advance the cause of science? Or what?"