before him, toward the lowering cloud of dust that obscured the rocket at the watering place.

When the people flowed out, he saw it was the Mormons and was not pleased, although it would be safe enough to turn the girl over to their women, he supposed. If they intended to stay, they could try the other side of the planet, he'd tell them that. This land was staked. When they reached him, the one who was a doctor pounced on his ankle the way the nameless girl would pounce on a mouse. When he enquired for the _Doric_, they shook their heads. Their farming supplies had never arrived, but it made no difference now. They were being forced out of the system, which was not the first time they had been pushed around, their bearded leader said. "You are lucky we paused here to fill the water tanks for the long trip in. We are the last ship. Unless they have been lying to us about the New System, I doubt if ships will bother with these planets for generations. You see, they found heavy metals there and the Government has decreed all colonization must be in that system to support development of mining colonies. They would not have forced us from Smith in a military sense, but we are not yet prepared for isolation; we must trade for many things. Six light years is a long way to be cut off. How lucky you are. You would have been the last man in this solar system. I shiver at the thought." "Oh?" said Paul calmly enough. "I have vegetables in the ground, your people are welcome to them." They spread over the field, pulling carrots and potatoes and chewing them raw, for they had been a month now on concentrates. "We will repay you," the leader assured. Paul shrugged: "Just so you leave enough for seed." The doctor chuckled at this. "Come on man. Put your arm about my shoulder, we will take you home." Paul stood back with his thumb hooked in his belt. "I wonder if you could pay me for the vegetables now, in books." "Certainly, we have a first class library. Come aboard." "You misunderstand, I want to read them here. Not trash; medical books, teachers' training, how-to-do-it manuals." "You have been alone too long. You need not be afraid of our ways. We do not try to convert spacemen in any case." The doctor took a forward step but stopped, off balance, when Paul's hand slapped the automatic. "My wife--," Paul had a perplexed, embarrassed look. The old man was right about him never getting rich. "We have decided to stay here. This is our home." He saw the doctor raise an eyebrow: no doubt he had run across spacemen who dreamed that convincingly of women many times before. It was difficult when they awoke. Paul had seen a guy in a cage once that had had that happen to him. Very disconcerting, unbearable in fact, when you 

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