"I say," said the man who had run out of the cruiser. He was a prim, energetic young man. Jonathan noted that he carried the ray gun gingerly, respectfully. "We're a week overdue now," he said. "If you have any personal belongings that you'd like to take with you, you'd best be getting them aboard."
Jonathan's face broke into a grin. He said, "Do any of you know how to grow tobacco?"
They glanced at each other in perplexity.
"I like it here," continued Jonathan. "I'm not going back."
"What?" cried the three explorers in one breath.
"I'm going to stay," he repeated. "I only came back here after the cigarettes."
"But it will be three years before the asteroid's orbit brings it back in the space lanes," said Doctor Boynton. "You don't possibly expect to be picked up before then!"
Jonathan shook his head, began to load himself with tools, tobacco seed, and cigarettes.
"Odd." Doctor Boynton shook his head, turned to the others. "Though if I remember correctly, there was quite an epidemic of hermits during the medieval period. It was an esthetic movement. They fled to the wilderness to escape the temptation of women."