y of grub and beer, but no fighting and no loot. I didn't
get to go with you characters the other day, but what you brought
back--"

"Wasn't half of what was there," mourned a front-file man. "Wasn't half!
Those pistols he issued got shot out and we had to get outta there
fast!... Hm-m-m.... Here's this thing, Thal. What do we do with it?"

"Hrrrmp, _halt!_" barked Thal. He stared at the motionless, seemingly
lifeless, shapeless spaceboat. He'd seen one like it earlier today. That
one spouted fire and went up out of sight. He was wary of this one. He
grumbled: "Those pipes in the back of it--steer clear of 'em. They spit
fire. No door on this side. Don Loris said knock on the door. We go
around the front. Frrrrd _harch!_ two, three, four, _hup_, two, three,
four. Left turn here and mind those rocks. Don Loris'd give us hell if
somebody fell down. Left turn again, _Hup_, two, three, four--"

* * * * *

The seven men tramped splendidly around the front of the lifeboat. On
the far side, its bulk hid even Don Loris' castle from view. The six
spearmen, with Thal, came to a second halt.

"Here goes," rumbled Thal. "I tell you, boys, if she starts to spit
fire, you get the hell away!"

He marched up to the spaceboat's port. He knocked on it. There was no
response. He knocked again.

Hoddan opened the door. He nodded cheerfully to Thal.

"'Afternoon, Thal! Glad to see you. I've been hoping you'd come over
this way. Who's with you?" He peered through the semidarkness. "Some of
the boys, eh? Come in!" He beckoned and said casually: "Lean your spears
against the hull, there."

Thal hesitated and was lost. The others obeyed. There were clatterings
as the steel spearheads came to rest against the metal hull. Six of Don
Loris' retainers followed Thal admiringly into the spaceboat's interior,
to gaze at it and that Bron Hoddan who so recently had given three of
them and nearly half a score of their fellows the chance to loot a
nearby castle.

"Sit down!" said Hoddan cordially. "If you want to feel what a
spaceboat's really like, clasp the seat belts around you. You'll feel
exactly like you're about to make a journey out of atmosphere. That's
it. Lean back. You notice there are no viewports in the hull? That's
because we use these visionscreens to see around with."

He flicked on the screens. Thal and his companions were charmed to see
the landscape outside portrayed on screens. Hoddan shifte