Now he had lost any idea of saner conduct. At the
moment, he looked ridiculous. But Alicia had a bruised cheek and
Cochrane could have been killed, and Holden had been in danger because
Johnny Simms wanted to and insisted on acting like a rich man's spoiled
little boy.
It occurred to Cochrane that Alicia would probably find recompense for
her humiliation and pain in the little-boy penitence--exactly as
temporary as any other little-boy emotion--when she and Johnny Simms
were alone together.
The ship had come down close to the sunset-line of the planet. Away to
the west there was the glint of blue sea. Dusk was already descending
here. There were smoothly contoured hills in view, and there was a dark
patch of forest on one hilltop, and the trees at the woodland's edge had
the same drooping, grass-blade-like foliage of the trees first seen. But
there were larger and more solid giants among them. The ship had landed
on a small plateau, and downhill from it a spring gushed out with such
force that the water-surface was rounded by pressure from below. The
water overflowed and went down toward the sea.
"I think we're all right," said Al, the pilot.
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