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Astounding Stories of Super-Science, August 1930
·
Various
160
Others
jumped
up
beside
the
first,
and
still
others
clambered
over
Sarka,
until
both
Sarka
and
Jaska
were
covered
by
them
like
beetles
attacked
by
ants.
But
these
strange
gnomelike
creatures,
who
did
not
fear
these
strangers,
apparently
meant
them
no
harm.
Then,
after
a
thorough
scrutiny,
began
the
strangest
talking
Sarka
had
ever
heard.
The
crater-Gnomes
seemed
to
communicate
by
making
strange
clucking
sounds
with
their
tongues,
sounds
which
were
unmusical
and
discordant,
and
which,
as
the
Gnomes
who
stood
back
from
them,
because
already
the
two
were
covered
until
no
more
could
cling
to
Jaska
or
Sarka,
joined
in
the
speech--mounted
in
the
cavern
to
a
vast
crescendo
of
sound.
Sarka
knew
then
that
this
was
the
sound
which
had
come
out
to
them
while
they
crouched
at
the
crater
rim.
These
were
people
of
the
Moon:
but
if
these
were
Moon-men,
what,
or
who,
were
those
gleaming
cubes?
"Stand
perfectly
still,"
Sarka
mentally
admonished
Jaska,
"they
apparently
mean
us
no
harm!"
He
had
not
spoken
aloud,
had
not
allowed
his
thought
to
reach
any
but
Jaska;
yet
instantly
the
discordant
clucking
ceased,
and
the
Gnomes
were
quiet,
as
though
they
politely
listened
to
someone
who
had
interrupted
them,
yet
whose
interruption
they
resented,
or
were
curious
about.
Wondering
how
the
creature
would
regard
his
action,
Sarka
reached
forth
and
plucked
away
the
first
Gnome
which
had
jumped
upon
Jaska,
and
placed
him
gently
on
the
ground.
The
thing
merely
stared
at
Sarka
with
his
lidless
eyes,
as
though
wondering
at
Sarka's
meaning.
Then
his
lips,
which
were
triangular,
rather
than
straight
as
those
of
Earthlings,
began
again
that
strange
clucking.
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