then saw the look
on Greg's face, and shrugged. "I'd advise you to give it some careful
thought," he said as he started for the door. "It might be very foolish
for you to try to use that rig."

Smiling, Greg closed the door in his face. Then he turned and winked at
Tom. "Great fellow, Mr. Tawney. He almost had me sold."

"So I noticed," Tom said. "For a while I thought you were serious."

"Well, we found out how high they'd go. That's a very generous outfit
Mr. Tawney works for."

"Or else a very crooked one," Tom said. "Are you wondering the same
thing I'm wondering?"

"Yes," Greg said slowly. "I think I am."

"Then that makes three of us," a heavy voice rumbled from the bedroom
door.

* * * * *

Johnny Coombs was a tall man, so thin he was almost gangling, with a
long nose and shaggy eyebrows jutting out over his eyes. With his rudely
cropped hair and his huge hands, he looked like a caricature of a
frontier Mars-farmer, but the blue eyes under the eyebrows were not
dull.

"Johnny!" Tom cried. "We were trying to find you."

"I know," Johnny said. "So have a lot of other people, includin' your
friends there."

"Well, did you hear what Tawney wanted?"

"I'm not so quick on my feet any more," Johnny Coombs said, "but I got
nothin' wrong with my ears." He scratched his jaw and looked up sharply
at Greg. "Not many people nowadays get a chance to bargain with Merrill
Tawney."

Greg shrugged. "He named a price and I didn't like it."

"Three times what the rig is worth," Coombs said.

"That's what I didn't like," Greg said. "That outfit wouldn't give us a
break like that just for old times' sake. Do you think they would?"

"Well, I don't know," Johnny said slowly. "Back before they built the
city here, they used to have rats getting into the grub. Came right down
off the ships. Got rid of most of them, finally, but it seems to me
we've still got some around, even if they've got different shapes now."
He jerked his thumb toward the bedroom door. "In case you're wondering,
that's why I was standin' back there all this time ... just to make sure
you didn't sell out to Tawney no matter what price he offered."

Tom jumped up excitedly. "Then you know something about Dad's accident!"

"No, I can't say I do. I wasn't there."

"Do you really think it was an accident?"

"Can't prove it wasn't."

"But at least you've got some ideas," Tom said.

"Takes more than ideas to make