there were any KGB men aboard, he wanted to dissolve into
mediocrity so far as they were concerned.

Hank said now, mild indignation in his voice. "Do you contend that the
average Russian eats as well as the average American?"

Char took a long moment to finish the bite she had in her mouth. She
shrugged prettily. "How would I know? I've never been to the Soviet
Union." She paused for a moment before adding, "However, I've done a
certain amount of traveling and I can truthfully say that the worst
slums I have ever seen in any country that can be considered civilized
were in the Harlem district and the lower East Side of New York."

All eyes were turned to him now, so Hank said, "It's a big country and
there are exceptions. But on the average the United States has the
highest standard of living in the world."

Paco said interestedly, "What do you use for a basis of measurement,
my friend? Such things as the number of television sets and movie
theaters? To balance such statistics, I understand that per capita
your country has the fewest number of legitimate theaters of any of--I
use Miss Moore's term--the civilized countries."

A Londoner, two down from Hank, laughed nastily. "Maybe schooling is
the way he measures. I read in the _Express_ the other day that even
after Yankees get out of college they can't read proper. All they
learn is driving cars and dancing and togetherness--wotever that it."

Hank grinned inwardly and thought, _You don't sound as though you read
any too well yourself, my friend._ Aloud he said, "Very well, in a
couple of days we'll be in the promised land, I contend that free
enterprise performs the greatest good for the greatest number."

"Free enterprise," somebody down the table snorted. "That means the
freedom for the capitalists to pry somebody else out of the greatest
part of what he produces."

By the time they'd reached Leningrad aside from Paco and Loo, his
cabinmates, Hank had built an Iron Curtain all of his own between
himself and the other members of the Progressive Tours trip. Which was
the way he wanted it. He could foresee a period when having friends
might be a handicap when and if he needed to drift away from the main
body for any length of time.

Actually, the discussions he ran into were on the juvenile side. Hank
Kuran hadn't spent eight years of his life as a field man working
against the Soviet countries in the economic sphere without running
into every argument both