Crossing another mountain, he descended into a second valley, and, for a
time, lost his way among a tangle of narrow ravines. It was dark by the
time he mounted a hill and found himself looking down another valley, in
which a few scattered lights gave evidence of human habitations. Not
wishing to arouse suspicion by approaching these in the night-time, he
found a place among some young evergreens where he could sleep.

The next morning, having breakfasted on a concentrate capsule, he found
a hiding-place for his blaster in a hollow tree. It was in a
sufficiently prominent position so that he could easily find it again,
and at the same time unlikely to be discovered by some native. Then he
went down into the inhabited valley.

He was surprised at the ease with which he established contact with the
natives. The first dwelling which he approached, a cluster of
farm-buildings at the upper end of the valley, gave him shelter. There
was a man, clad in the same sort of rough garments Hradzka had taken
from the body of the herb-gatherer, and a woman in a faded and shapeless
dress. The man was thin and work-bent; the woman short and heavy. Both
were past middle age.

He made inarticulate sounds to attract their attention, then gestured to
his mouth and ears to indicate his assumed affliction. He rubbed his
stomach to portray hunger. Looking about, he saw an ax sticking in a
chopping-block, and a pile of wood near it, probably the fuel used by
these people. He took the ax, split up some of the wood, then repeated
the hunger-signs. The man and the woman both nodded, laughing; he was
shown a pile of tree-limbs, and the man picked up a short billet of wood
and used it like a measuring-rule, to indicate that all the wood was to