"Look!" she exclaimed, pointing to a spot back of them. "See the curious
bird!" They wheeled instantly, with the unquestioning faith of two
children; and before they had brought their gazes back again, the big
man had seized Rolla, crushed her to his breast and kissed her
passionately. She responded just as warmly, pushing him away only in
order to avoid being seen by the others. They showed only an innocent
disappointment at having missed seeing the "curious bird."

"A simple-minded people, basically good-humored," was the way the doctor
summed the matter up when reporting what he had seen. However, it was
not so easy to analyze certain things that were said during the time the
four Sanusians spent in each other's company. For one thing--

"Did They give thee permission to go?" Rolla was asked by the big man.
His name, it seemed, was Corrus.

"Yes, Corrus. They seemed to think it a good idea for us to take a
little recreation to-day. I suppose ye left thy herd with thy brother?"

He nodded; and the doctor was left to wonder whom "They" might be. Were
They a small group of humans, whose function was to superintend? Or were
They, as the books from Venus seemed to indicate, another type of
creature, entirely different from the humans, and yet, because of the
peculiar Sanusian conditions, superior to the humans?

"They have decided to move their city a little farther away from the
forest," Rolla overheard Dulnop telling Cunora; which was the first
indication that the planet boasted such a thing as a city. Otherwise,
things appeared to be in a primitive, rather than a civilized condition.