d. "Of course I don't
quite get either why you'd want to go hunting ... twice ... for
something that's just as likely to bag you instead!"

"Well, those are, ah, merely the statistical odds," the Moderator
explained. "If one has enough confidence, you see--"

"I don't really. But the crest cats seem to have felt the same way--at
first. They were getting around one hunter for every cat that got
shot. Humans were the most exciting game they'd ever run into.

"But then that ended, and the humans started knocking them out with
stunguns from aircars where they couldn't be got at, and hauling them
off while they were helpless. After it had gone on for a while, they
decided to keep out of sight.

"But they're still around ... thousands and thousands of them!
Another thing nobody's known about them is that they weren't only in
the Baluit mountains. There were crest cats scattered all through the
big forests along the other side of the continent."

"Very interesting," the Moderator commented. "Very interesting,
indeed!" He glanced towards the communicator, then returned his gaze
to Telzey, drumming his fingers lightly on the desk top.

She could tell nothing at all from his expression now, but she guessed
he was thinking hard. There was supposed to be no native intelligent
life in the legal sense on Jontarou, and she had been careful to say
nothing so far to make the Baluit cats look like more than rather
exceptionally intelligent animals. The next--rather large--question
should be how she'd come by such information.

If the Moderator asked her that, Telzey thought, she could feel she'd
made a beginning at getting him to buy the whole story.

"Well," he said abruptly, "if the crest cats are not extinct or
threatened with extinction, the Life Banks obviously have no claim on
your pet." He smiled confidingly at her. "And that's the reason you're
here, isn't it?"

"Well, no," Telzey began, dismayed. "I--"

"Oh, it's quite all right, Miss Amberdon! I'll simply rescind the
permit which was issued for the purpose. You need feel no further
concern about that." He paused. "Now, just one question ... do you
happen to know where your aunt is at present?"

* * * * *

Telzey had a dead, sinking feeling. So he hadn't believed a word she
said. He'd been stalling her along until the aircar could be found.

She took a deep breath. "You'd better listen to the rest of it."

"Why, is there more?" the