And if anybody saw a tear in your eye, he looked the other way. Because maybe tomorrow he'd be doing the same.
Why, there hadn't been a Mercurian in camp for years. They were afraid to come here ever since the earthmen had run out of town that one who'd got drunk on vhubi, upset the tube and tried to trample the plants.
No man, you didn't treat Trixie or her dandelions lightly. They were sacred.
"Hey," Horseface asked Elmer, "is that a rocket down there? A rocket—in Finchburg?"
Elmer peered forward and said, "Wak, wak!" in a meshed-gears voice, meaning yes.
"A rocket!" Horseface marvelled. "Maybe it's visitors from Terra! Or maybe it's news of a new strike! Gee-jup, Elmer! Time's a-jettin'!"
They started down the hillside's hairpin turns. The shouting grew more strident, and at times Horseface heard the raucous yowl of blaster-guns.
Celebration!
"Yippity!" Horseface bellowed, firing his own gun in the air.