the _mk'oog_ had gone. "No wonder it took me so long to
find myself."

"Oh, have you found yourself at last?" Iversen purred. "Splendid! Now
that you know where you are, supposing you do me a big favor and go lose
yourself again while we make ready for blastoff."

"For shame," said the first officer as Harkaway stamped off. "For
shame!"

"The captain's a hard man," observed the chief petty officer, who was
lounging negligently against a wall, doing nothing.

"Ay, that he is," agreed the crewman who was assisting him. "That he
is--a hard man, indeed."

"By Caroli, be quiet, all of you!" Iversen yelled. The very next voyage,
he was going to have a new crew if he had to transfer to Colonization to
do it! Even colonists couldn't be as obnoxious as the sons of space with
which he was cursed.

* * * * *

It was only after the _Herringbone_ had left the Virago System entirely
that Iversen discovered Harkaway had taken the greech along.

"But you can't abscond with one of the natives' pets!" he protested,
overlooking, for the sake of rhetoric, the undeniable fact that Harkaway
had already done so and that there could be no turning back. It would
expend too much precious fuel and leave them stranded for life on Virago
XI^a.

"Nonsense, sir!" Harkaway retorted. "Didn't the Flimflim say everything
on Flimbot was mine? _Thlu'pt shig-nliv, snusnigg bnig-nliv_ were his
very words. Anyhow, they have plenty more greechi. They won't miss this
little one."

"But he may have belonged to someone," Iversen objected. "An incident
like this could start a war."

"I don't see how he could have belonged to anyone. Followed me around
most of the time I was there. We've become great pals, haven't we,
little fellow?" He ruffled the greech's pink fur and the creature gave a
delighted squeal.

Iversen could already see that the greechik were going to be Flimbot's
first lucrative export. From time immemorial, the people of Earth had
been susceptible to cuddly little life-forms, which was why Earth had
nearly been conquered by the zz^{iu} from Sirius VII, before they
discovered them to be hostile and quite intelligent life-forms rather
than a new species of tabby.

"Couldn't bear to leave him," Harkaway went on as the greech draped
itself around his shoulders and regarded Iversen with large round blue
eyes. "The Flimflim won't mind, because I promised him an elephant."

"You mean the diplomatic mission