The Project Gutenberg EBook of Letter of the Law, by Alan Edward Nourse

This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or
re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.net

Title: Letter of the Law

Author: Alan Edward Nourse

Release Date: January 14, 2008 [EBook #24275]

Language: English

Character set encoding: ASCII

*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK LETTER OF THE LAW ***

Produced by Greg Weeks, Stephen Blundell and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

Letter
of
the
Law

by Alan E. Nourse

The place was dark and damp, and smelled like moldy leaves. Meyerhoff
followed the huge, bear-like Altairian guard down the slippery
flagstones of the corridor, sniffing the dead, musty air with distaste.
He drew his carefully tailored Terran-styled jacket closer about his
shoulders, shivering as his eyes avoided the black, yawning cell-holes
they were passing. His foot slipped on the slimy flags from time to
time, and finally he paused to wipe the caked mud from his trouser leg.
"How much farther is it?" he shouted angrily.

The guard waved a heavy paw vaguely into the blackness ahead. Quite
suddenly the corridor took a sharp bend, and the Altairian stopped,
producing a huge key ring from some obscure fold of his hairy hide. "I
still don't see any reason for all the fuss," he grumbled in a wounded
tone. "We've treated him like a brother."

One of the huge steel doors clicked open. Meyerhoff peered into the
blackness, catching a vaguely human outline against the back wall.
"Harry?" he called sharply.

There was a startled gasp from within, and a skinny, gnarled little man
suddenly appeared in the guard's light, like a grotesque, twisted ghost
out of the blackness. Wide blue eyes regarded Meyerhoff from beneath
uneven black eyebrows, and then the little man's face broke into a
crafty grin. "Paul! So they sent _you_! I knew I could count on it!" He
executed a deep, awkward bow, motioning Meyerhoff into the dark cubicle.
"Not much to offer you," he said slyly, "but it's the best I can do
under the circumstances."

Meyerhoff scowled, and turned abruptly to the guard. "We'll have some
privacy now, if you please. Interplanetary ruling. And leave us the
light."

The guard grumbled, and started for t