All of you! You're the same as us! You're slaves!"

Ruth, wide-eyed, was waiting at the doorway for him, when he came back. "You heard them?" Harvey said shakily.

"I heard," Ruth said in a quiet voice.

"Lord, what did I get you into?"

She put a hand on his arm. "There's nothing to grieve about. If we find that things just don't work out, we'll stick it out for two years and save up enough for our return passage."

Harvey looked at her brokenly. "If what they say is true, how can you save anything?"

Of course, Harvey reflected afterward, the guide could have been talking nonsense, he could have been some sort of nut. So Harvey said nothing about his encounter to the other settlers. But after three days, everybody knew the true conditions of their existence. The story was made explicit by the little