ce. Perhaps especially risk-insurance covering piracy. I was
given quotations on the risk-insurance divisions of all Krim companies.
Of course those are not very active stocks, but if there were a rumor of
a pirate ship acting in this part of the galaxy, one might anticipate--"

"I do," said Hoddan. "Let's see. ... My cargo brought so much....
Hm-m-m.... My purchases will come to so much. Hm-m-m.... My legal fees,
of course.... I mentioned a sum in cash. Yes. This will be the balance,
more or less, which you will put in the stocks you've named, but since I
anticipate activity in them. I'll want to leave some special
instructions."

He gave a detailed, thoughtful account of what he anticipated might be
found in news reports of later dates. The clerk noted it all down,
impassively. Hoddan added instructions.

"Yes, sir," said the clerk without intonation when he was through. "If
you will come to the office in the morning, sir, the papers will be
drawn up and matters can be concluded. Your new cargo can hardly be
delivered before then, and if I may say so, sir, your crew won't be
ready. I'd estimate two hours of festivity for each man, and fourteen
hours for recovery."

"Thank you," said Hoddan. "I'll see you in the morning."

* * * * *

He sealed up the ship when the lawyer's clerk departed. Then he felt
lonely. He was the only living thing in the ship. His footsteps echoed
hollowly. There was nobody to speak to. Not even anybody to threaten.
He'd done a lot of threatening lately.

He went forlornly to the cabin once occupied by the liner's former
skipper. His loneliness increased. He began to feel those daunting
self-doubts such as plague the most unselfish and conscientious people.
His actions to date, of course, did not trouble him. Today's actions
were the ones which bothered his conscience. He felt that they were not
quite adequate. The balance left in the lawyer's hands would not be
nearly enough to cover a certain deficit which in justice he felt
himself bound to make up. It had been his thought to make this
enterprise self-liquidating--everybody concerned making a profit,
including the owners of the ship and cargo he had pirated. But he wasn't
sure.

He reflected that his grandfather would not have been disturbed about
such a matter. That elderly pirate would have felt wholly at ease. It
was his conviction that piracy was an essential part of the working of
the galaxy's eco