anley's eyes. "Do you think you could take on a job as
anchor man now?"

"I don't know," said Danley evenly. "But I'm going to find out
tomorrow."

* * * * *

Peter Danley took his final examination the following day. All by
himself, he went through the procedure of positioning his ship, setting
up a rocket drill, firing it, and setting in an anchor. It was only a
small rock, nine meters through, but the job was almost the same as with
the big ones. Not far away, Captain St. Simon watched the Earthman's
procedure through a pair of high-powered field glasses. He breathed a
deep sigh of relief when the job was done.

"Jules," he said softly, "I am sure glad that man didn't hurt himself
any."

"Yes, _suh_! We'd of sho' been in trouble if he'd of killed hisself!"

"We will have to tell Captain Brand that our pupil has done pretty well
for such a small amount of schooling."

"I think that would be proper, m'lud."

"And we will also have to tell Captain Brand that this boy wouldn't last
a month. He wouldn't come back from his first trip."

There was no answer to that.

* * * * *

Three days later, amid a cloud of generally satisfied feelings, Edway
Tarnhorst and Peter Danley took the ship back to Earth.

"I cannot, of course, give you a copy of my report," Tarnhorst had told
Georges Alhamid. "That is for the eyes of the Committee only. However, I
may say that I do not find the Belt Companies or the governments of the
Belt Cities at fault. Do you want to know my personal opinion?"

"I would appreciate it, Mr. Tarnhorst," Georges had said.

"Carelessness. Just plain carelessness on the part of the workers. That
is what has caused your rise in death rates. You people out here in the
Belt have become too used to being in space. Familiarity breeds
contempt, Mr. Alhamid.

"Steps must be taken to curb that carelessness. I suggest a publicity
campaign of some kind. The people must be thoroughly indoctrinated in
safety procedures and warned against carelessness. Just a few months of
schooling isn't enough, Mr. Alhamid. You've got to start pounding it
into their heads early.

"If you don't--" He shook his head. (He had grown used to doing so in
low gravity by now.) "If the death rate isn't cut down, we shall have to
raise the premium rates, and I don't know what will happen on the floor
of the People's Congress. However, I think I can guarantee six months