nly have two thousand men of our own, and that's
not enough. Do you think you can make soldiers out of any of them?"

"Yes, I believe so, sir. They are trained, organized and armed for
civil-order work, which is what we'll need them for ourselves. In the
entire history of this army, all they have done has been to overawe
unarmed slaves; I am sure they have never been in combat with regular
troops. They have an elaborate set of training and field regulations for
the sort of work for which they were intended. What they encountered
today was entirely outside those regulations, which is why they behaved
as they did."

"Did you have any trouble getting cooperation from the native officers?"
Shatrak asked.

"Not in the least. They cooperated quite willingly, if not always too
intelligently. I simply told them that they were now the personal
property of his Imperial Majesty, Rodrik III. They were quite flattered
by the change of ownership. If ordered to, I believe that they would
fire on their former Lords-Master without hesitation."

"You told those slaves that they ... _belonged_ ... to the _Emperor_?"

Count Erskyll was aghast. He stared at Ravney for an instant, then
snatched up his brandy-glass--the meal had gotten to that point--and
drained it at a gulp. The others watched solicitously while he coughed
and spluttered over it.

"Commodore Shatrak," he said sternly. "I hope that you will take severe
disciplinary action; this is the most outrageous...."

"I'll do nothing of the sort," Shatrak retorted. "The colonel is to be
commended; did the best thing he could, under the circumstances. What
are you going to do when slavery is abolished here, Colonel?"

"Oh, tell them that they have been given their freedom as a special
reward for meritorious service, and then sign them up for a five year
enlistment."

"That might work. Again, it might not."

"I think, Colonel, that before you do that, you had better disarm them
again. You might possibly have some trouble, otherwise."

Ravney looked at him sharply. "They might not want to be free? I'd
thought of that."

"Nonsense!" Erskyll declared. "Who ever heard of slaves rebelling
against freedom?"

Freedom was a Good Thing. It was a Good Thing for everybody, everywhere
and all the time. Count Erskyll knew it, because freedom was a Good
Thing for him.

He thought, suddenly, of an old tomcat belonging to a lady of his
acquaintance at Paris-on-Baldur, a most affectionat