When they set out in the snow, wearing the heaviest clothing they had, the men were singing. McCracken's voice, like the croaking of a huge bullfrog, supplied an unharmonized but ear-filling bass. It sounded so impressive to Lamoureux that not until McCracken had reached the third song did he perceive that the man didn't know any of the melodies at all. He just oom-pahed as the spirit moved him, evidently feeling that, on Mercury, noise and good spirits were more important than any tune. * * * * * They had been marching for a half hour when Gronski exclaimed, "Well, I'll be damned to Venus and back!" "What's wrong, Gronski?" "It isn't snowing so hard, Captain." It wasn't. Carvalho said hopefully, "Maybe it'll stop." Sprott was so overwhelmed with delight that he scooped up a huge pile of snow, pressed it together, and popped McCracken on the nose with it. McCracken threw him down and poured snow down his back. Lamoureux said angrily, "Stop that, you fools! You're not a bunch of kids." The horseplay came to an abrupt halt. They marched on a little more soberly, and in a few minutes the snow had stopped falling altogether. Instead of being as happy as Lamoureux had expected, McCracken seemed puzzled. He scratched his head and scowled. "What's wrong, McCracken? Termites?" "It's this snow, Captain. We walk two or three miles and it stops. It don't make sense." "It's got to stop sometime." "The point is, Captain, it didn't snow here at all. There's none on the ground. It just snowed around the ship." It cost Lamoureux an effort to admit it, but McCracken was right. He was not as stupid as he had seemed. It was Lamoureux's turn to scowl. He got in touch with the ship. "Haskell!" "Yes, sir?" "How's the weather where you are?" "Are you joking, Captain?" "I'm serious, Haskell. Is it clear?" "It's still snowing, Captain, just as it was less than an hour ago when you left." Lamoureux grunted. "You may be interested to know that it hasn't snowed here at all." He cut off Haskell's astonished voice, and turned to the others, who now seemed a little uneasy. The unexpected changes in the weather were a little too much for them. "Now that it's cleared up, we should be able to find that mountain. We'll spread out just a little, but not too far. For all we know, it may start to snow again. Carvalho, you take your group off to the left--" Sprott whispered, "Captain!" "Yes?" "Isn't that a Mercurian?" * * * * * Lamoureux stared where Sprott had pointed. About a half mile away, a small gray creature, looking, as McCracken had reported, like a penguin, but with a broader face and no bill to speak of, was standing motionless.