. He was surrounded by now-ecstatically admiring
citizens of Dara, only minutes since they'd thirsted for his blood.

Two hours after the first ship, a second landed. Dara went wild again.
Four hours later still, the third arrived. The fourth came down on the
following day.

Then Calhoun faced the executive and cabinet of Dara for the second
time. His tone and manner were very dry.

"Now," he said curtly, "I would like a few more astrogators to train. I
think it likely that we can raid the Wealdian grain-fleet one time more,
and in so doing get the beginning of a fleet for defense. I insist,
however, that it must not be used in combat! We might as well be
sensible about this situation! After all, four shiploads of grain won't
break the famine! They'll help a lot, but they're only the beginning of
what's needed for a planetary population!"

"How much grain can we hope for?" demanded a man with a blue mark
covering all his chin.

Calhoun told him.

"How long before Weald can have a fleet overhead, dropping fusion
bombs?" demanded another, grimly.

Calhoun named a time. But then he said;

"I think we can keep them from dropping bombs if we can get the
grain-fleet and some capable astrogators."

"What do you have in mind?"

He told them. It was not possible to tell the whole story of what he
considered sensible behavior. An emotional program can be presented and
accepted immediately. A plan of action which is actually intelligent,
considering all elements of a situation, has to be accepted piecemeal.
Even so, the military men growled.

"We've plenty of heavy elements," said one, with one eye and half his
forehead colored blue. "If we'd used our brains, we'd have more bombs
than Weald can hope for! We could turn that whole planet into a smoking
cinder!"

"Which," said Calhoun acidly, "would give you some satisfaction but not
an ounce of food! And food's more important than satisfaction. Now, I'm
going to take off for Weald again. I'll want somebody to build an
emergency device for my ship, and I'll want the four pilots I've trained
and twenty more candidates. And I'd like to have some decent rations!
When the last trip brought back two million bushels of grain, you can
spare adequate food for twenty men for a few days!"

* * * * *

It took some time to get the special device constructed, but the Med
Ship lifted in two days more. The device for which it had waited was
simply a