hing in the pot. I want to make
it as little as possible, so let us have no more nonsense about the true
value of ship or cargo as they stand."

They looked startled at his tone. Mayne went on before they could
recover.

"The object I have in mind, if it seems at all possible, is to put
Captain Voorhis back in business without costing Mr. Melin his job. Now,
let's put our heads together on that problem and worry about justifying
ourselves later."

The most difficult part was to convince Voorhis to surrender his dream
of fantastic profits; but sometime before Mayne got hoarse, the captain
was made to see that he could not have his cake and eat it, too.

Melin agreed that he might pay the paper value of the _Gemsbok_ if he
could pay likewise for the cargo, in which case he would admit a loss.
After all, a spaceship anchored by a temple might reasonably be termed
unspaceworthy. He would take over the cargo and cut his losses by
allowing the government to buy it at two million.

"You wanna come with me next trip?" invited Voorhis when he heard this.
"If that's how you cut loose, we'll make a fortune!"

"Well, there it is," said Mayne, straightening up to ease his aching
back. He must have been leaning tensely over the table longer than he
had thought. "The captain gets two and a half million, Mr. Melin gets
off with paying only half a million, and you've stuck me for the rest."

"Congratulations, Judge!" said Melin. "You now own a ship and cargo
which I presume you will present to the Kappans."

"How can he?" demanded Voorhis. "They figure they own it already."

"We'll worry about that later," said Mayne.

"_You_ will!" Voorhis guffawed. "I hope you get _some_ credit out of
it."

Haruhiku interrupted to inform Mayne that the Kappans, who had been
interested if bewildered listeners, had invited the Terrans to a small
feast.

"I translated enough to let them understand there would be no attempt to
disturb their temple building," he explained. "They now feel they owe us
hospitality."

"Good, that's something," said Mayne.

"I'll tell you what else will be something," grunted Voorhis. "The
food!"

The assemblage repaired to the Kappan village. The Terrans--though it
took some doing--survived the feast.

Mayne thought it best not to inquire into the nature of the dishes
served. Eemakh was evidently determined to display his village's finest
hospitality, so the Terrans even tried the Kappan beer. Mayne absorb