a tight whisper--

"Dave!"

And then the huge man was gripping his hand, a strong arm around his
thin shoulders, the dark, brooding eyes soft and smiling. "Tam,
Tam--It's been so damned long, man--oh, it's good to see you, Tam.
Why, the last I heard, you'd taken passage to the Rings--years ago--"

Weakly, Tam stumbled into the inner office, sank into a chair, his
eyes overflowing, his mind a turmoil of joy and relief. The huge man
slammed the door to the outer office and settled down behind the desk,
sticking his feet over the edge, beaming. "Where have you _been_, Tam?
You promised you'd look me up any time you came to New Denver, and I
haven't seen you in a dozen years--" He fished in a lower drawer.
"Drink?"

"No, no--thanks. I don't think I could handle a drink--" Tam sat back,
gazing at the huge man, his throat tight. "You look bigger and better
than ever, Dave."

* * * * *

Dave Hawke laughed, a deep bass laugh that seemed to start at the
soles of his feet. "Couldn't very well look thin and wan," he said. He
pushed a cigar box across the desk. "Here, light up. I'm on these
exclusively these days--remember how you tried to get me to smoke
them, back at the University? How you couldn't stand cigarettes? Said
they were for women, a man should smoke a good cigar. You finally
converted me."

Tam grinned, suddenly feeling the warmth of the old friendship
swelling Back. "Yes, I remember. You were smoking that rotten corncob,
then, because old Prof Tenley smoked one that you could smell in the
back of the room, and in those days the Prof could do no wrong--"

Dave Hawke grinned broadly, settled back in his chair as he lit the
cigar. "Yes, I remember. Still got that corncob around somewhere--" he
shook his head, his eyes dreamy. "Good old Prof Tenley! One in a
million--there was an honest man, Tam. They don't have them like that
in the colleges these days. Wonder what happened to the old goat?"

"He was killed," said Tam, softly. "Just after the war. Got caught in
a Revolt riot, and he was shot down."

Dave looked at him, his eyes suddenly sad. "A lot of honest men went
down in those riots, didn't they? That was the worst part of the
Revolt. There wasn't any provision made for the honest men, the really
good men." He stopped, and regarded Tam closely. "What's the trouble,
Tam? If you'd been going to make a friendly call, you'd have done it
years ago. You know this office has alwa