ou got there, lady," I heard Pop tell the
girl. He was right. There were blisters easy to see on three of the
fingertips. "I've got some salve that's pretty good," he went on, "and
some clean cloth. I could put on a bandage for you if you wanted. If
your hand started to feel poisoned you could always tell Ray here to
slip a knife in me."

Pop was a cute gasser, you had to admit. I reminded myself that it was
Pop's business to play up to the both of us, charm being the secret
weapon of all scroungers.

The girl gave a harsh little laugh. "Very well," she said, "but we will
use my salve, I know it works for me." And she started to lead Pop to
where we'd hidden our things.

"I'll go with you," I told them, standing up.

It didn't look like we were going to have any more murders today--Pop
had got through the preliminary ingratiations pretty well and the girl
and me had had our catharsis--but that would be no excuse for any such
stupidity as letting the two of them get near my .38.

Strolling to the cave and back I eased the situation a bit more by
saying, "That scream you let off, Pop, really helped. I don't know what
gave you the idea, but thanks."

"Oh that," he said. "Forget about it."

"I won't," I told him. "You may say you've quit killing, but helped on a
do-in today."

"Ray," he said a little solemnly, "if it'll make you feel any happier,
I'll take a bit of the responsibility for every murder that's been done
since the beginning of time."

I looked at him for a while. Then, "Pop, you're not by any chance the
religious type?" I asked suddenly.

"Lord, no," he told us.

That struck me as a satisfactory answer. God preserve me from the
religious type! We have quite a few of those in the Deathlands. It
generally means that they try to convert you to something before they
kill you. Or sometimes afterwards.

We completed our errands. I felt a lot more secure with Old Financier's
Friend strapped to my middle. Mother is wonderful but she is not enough.

I dawdled over inspecting the Pilot's pockets, partly to give my right
hand time to come back all the way. And to tell the truth I didn't much
enjoy the job--a corpse, especially such a handsome cadaver as this,
just didn't go with Pop's brand of light patter.

* * * * *

Pop did up the girl's hand in high style, bandaging each finger
separately and then persuading her to put on a big left-hand work glove
he took out of his