Under the added strain the dead spruce sagged down with a warning crack.

But it held, and Aldous hung to his grip on the ear.

Foot by foot he wormed his way back, until at last he had dragged the little animal ashore.
And then a voice spoke behind him, a voice that he would have recognized among ten thousand, low, sweet, thrilling.
"That was splendid, John Aldous!" it said.

"If I were a man I would want to be a man like you!" He turned.

A few steps from him stood Joanne Gray.