He broke off a piece of Extee Three, put it in his mouth and ate it.  Then he broke off two more pieces and held them out.  The two Fuzzies were tempted, but not to the point of rashness.  He threw both pieces within a few feet of them.  One darted forward, threw a piece to her companion and then snatched the other piece and ran back with it.  They stood together, nibbling and making soft delighted noises.

His own family seemed to disapprove strenuously of this lavishing of delicacies upon outsiders.  However, the two strangers decided that it would be safe to come closer, and soon he had them taking bits of field ration from his hand.  Then he took the two steel chopper-diggers out of his pocket, and managed to convey the idea that he wanted to trade.  The two strange Fuzzies were incredulously delighted.  This was too much for his own tribe; they came up yeeking angrily.

The two strange females retreated a few steps, their new weapon ready.  Everybody seemed to expect a fight, and nobody wanted one.  From what he could remember of Old Terran history, this was a situation which could develop into serious trouble.  Then Ko-Ko advanced, dragging his chopper-digger in an obviously pacific manner, and approached the two females, yeeking softly and touching first one and then the other.  Then he laid his weapon down and put his foot on it.  The two females began stroking and caressing him.

Immediately the crisis evaporated.  The others of the family came forward, stuck their weapons in the ground and began fondling the strangers.  Then they all sat in a circle, swaying their bodies rhythmically and making soft noises.  Finally Ko-Ko and the two females rose, picked up their weapons and started for the woods.

“Jack, stop them,” Ruth called out.  “They’re going away.”

“If they want to go, I have no right to stop them.”

When they were almost at the edge of the woods, Ko-Ko stopped, drove the point of his weapon into the ground and came running back to Pappy Jack, throwing his arms around the human knees and yeeking.  Jack stooped and stroked him, but didn’t try to pick him up.  One of the two females pulled his chopper-digger out, and they both came back slowly.  At the same time, Little Fuzzy, Mamma Fuzzy, Mike and Mitzi came running back.  For a while, all the Fuzzies embraced one another, yeeking happily.  Then they all trooped across the grass and went into the house.

“Get that all, Gerd?” he asked.

“On film, yes.  That’s the only way I did, though.  What happened?”

“You have just made the first film of intertribal social and mating customs, Zarathustran Fuzzy.  This is the family’s home; they don’t want any strange Fuzzies hanging around.  They were going to run the girls off.  Then Ko-Ko decided he liked their looks, and he decided he’d team up with them.  That made everything different; the family sat down with them to tell them what a fine husband they were getting and to tell Ko-Ko good-bye.  Then Ko-Ko remembered that he hadn’t told me good-bye, and he came back.  The family decided that two more Fuzzies wouldn’t be in excess of the carrying capacity of this habitat, seeing what a good provider Pappy Jack is, so now I should imagine they’re showing the girls the family treasures.  You know, they married into a mighty well-to-do family.”