There was really no reason for him to
be irritated by the girl, so long as she was agreeing with him so
nicely. Nevertheless, he wasn't quite sure that she was speaking her
mind.

"Oh," Millicent said. "Sure."

Bette nodded. "Uh-huh. I mean, yes, Lord Dionysus."

Forrester waved a hand. "No need for formality," he said, and felt like
an ass. But none of the girls seemed to notice. Agreement with his idea
became general. "Well, let's see."

His eyes wandered over the surrounding scenery in quiet thought. Several
Myrmidons were scattered about twenty feet away, and they were standing
with their backs to the group as a matter of formality. If they had
turned around, they couldn't have seen a thing in the darkness. But they
had to remain at their stations, to make sure no unauthorized persons,
souvenir-hunters, musicians, special-pleaders or just plain lost souls
intruded upon great Dionysus while he was occupied.

The Myrmidons were the only living souls within that radius, except for
Forrester himself and his bevy--and the Symes trio.

His gaze settled on them. Ed Symes, he noticed with quiet satisfaction,
was now out cold. Forrester thought that the little spell he had cast on
the beer might have had something to do with that, and he felt rather
pleased with his efforts, at least in that direction. Symes was lying
flat on his back, snoring loudly enough to drown out all but a few notes
from the steam calliope, which was singing itself loudly to sleep
somewhere in the distance. Near the prone figure, Gerda was trying to
fend off the advances of good old Alvin Sherdlap, but it was obvious
that the sheer passage of time, plus the amount of liquor she had
consumed, were weakening her resistance.

Forrester pointed a finger at the man. The one thing he really wanted to
do was to give Alvin the rock treatment. One little _zap_ would do it,
and Alvin Sherdlap would encumber the Earth no more. And it wasn't as if
Alvin would be missed, Forrester told himself. It was clear from one
look at the lout that no one, anywhere, for any reason, would miss Alvin
if he were exploded into dust.

The temptation was very nearly irresistible, but somehow Forrester
managed to resist it. He had been told that he had to be extremely
careful in the use of his powers, and he had a pretty good idea that he
wouldn't be able to justify blasting Alvin. Viewed objectively, there
was nothing wrong with what the oaf was doing. He was merely follo