quiet and lived their whole lives in impassioned absorption in their
religion, as Boles lived his in devotion to regulations. Boles said
that their religion was regulations, and that it made sense. But Fahnes
had no religion, and he heeded no regulations save those he made
himself.

The jungle dried about him as he walked. There was no longer the
sensation of walking under a traveling shower-bath. It was--save for
the wet thickness of the air--not uncomfortable. In half an hour he
reached the slaty-blue soil on which the crops of the Honkie village
were grown. He grinned excitedly and began to cross it toward the
village. But he found himself slackening his pace to look at the soil
absorbedly.

He realized, and chuckled to himself. He needn't look for mementos in
the ground, here! The Honkies would have attended to that for him! He
continued to grin as he pressed on. He was in open sunshine, now, with
shoulder-high plants about him and the huddled soapstone huts of the
village in clear view ahead. And he saw Honkies in the fields. They
were working the crops. They used preposterously-shaped hoes and dug
busily around the plants which formed their food-supply.Out of the corner of his eye Fahnes saw them look at him, but he could never catch one actually in the act of staring. He'd expected protests, and the flame-rifle was ready, but whenever he jerked his head about, the Honkie he essayed to catch was absorbed in his agricultural labor.

This, of course, was unexpected. It was forbidden for humans to enter Honkie villages. The Company regulations by which Boles lived specifically forbade it under any and all conditions. It was a violation of basic principle. Men must not enter Honkie villages! It was forbidden by Honkie religion!

For a man to enter a Honkie village was sacrilege. It was blasphemy! It was crime! But the Honkies seemingly pretended not to notice. Fahnes grew irritated. He was ready to use the flame-gun to force his way in, after what he knew was there. He was prepared to deal out murder wholesale. His intention to commit what the regulations called crime was obvious. But the Honkies feigned obliviousness.

They grew thicker as he neared the village. Male Honkies. Female Honkies. Smaller ones--male and female indiscriminately--scuttled about the taller figures who were adults. All eyed him furtively and knew that he committed sacrilege against their gods in 

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