e her,"
maliciously remarked Thig.

Dolf glowered at him.

* * * * *

"What is the cube root of 378?" suddenly asked one of the other
members of the committee.

"Oh, a little over seven," hazarded Abbot.

"Come, come," boomed Thig: "give it to us exactly."

"Well, seven-point-two, I guess."

"Don't guess. Give it exact, to four decimal places."

"In my head?" asked Abbot incredulously.

"Certainly!" replied Thig. "Even a child could do that. We're giving
you easy questions to start with."

"Start him on _square_ root," suggested Dolf kindly. "Remember he
isn't used to these tests like our people are."

So they tried him with square root, in which he turned out to be
equally dumb.

Abstract questions of physics and chemistry he did better on; but the
actual quantitative problems, which they expected him to solve in his
head, stumped him completely.

Then they asked him about education on earth, and the qualifications
for becoming a scientist, and who were the leaders in his field, and
what degrees they held, and what one had to do to get those degrees,
etc. Finally they dismissed him. Dolf then sent for Milli.

She was gone about an hour, and returned to Abbot wide-eyed and
incredulous.

"Oh, George," said she, lowering her voice. "Dolf tells me that your
intelligence is below that of a five-year-old child! Perhaps that is
why you and I get along so well together: we are both morons."

* * * * *

He started to protest, but she silenced him with a gesture and hurried
on. "I am not supposed to tell you this, but I want you to know that
your examination to-day has resulted in a complete change in their
plans for the expedition to the surface. They have consulted with the
leaders of our masters, and they agree with them."

She was plainly agitated.

"What is it, dear?" asked Abbot, with ominous foreboding.

Milli continued: "Early during your test, when you demonstrated that
you couldn't do the very simplest mathematical problems in your head,
they began to doubt your boastings that you are a scientist. But you
were so ingenuous in your answers about conditions on the surface,
that finally their faith in your honesty returned. If you are a
scientist among men, as they now believe, then the average run of your
people must be mere animals. This explains what has puzzled them
before; namely, how the people of the earth tolerate poverty and