faced official meekly and silently handed it to him. Without his
Skin Rastignac was no longer fearfully inhibited. If you were forceful
enough and did not behave according to the normal pattern you could
get just about anything you wanted. The average Man or Ssassaror did
not know how to react to his violence. By the time they had recovered
from their confusion he could be miles away.

Such a thought flashed through his head as he ran towards the prison
wells. At the same time he heard the horn-blasts of the king's
mucketeers and knew that he shortly would have a different type of Man
to deal with. The mucketeers, closest approach to soldiers in this
pacifistic land, wore Skins that conditioned them to be more
belligerent than the common citizen. They carried epees and, while it
was true that their points were dull and their wielders had never
engaged in serious swordsmanship, the mucketeers could be dangerous
from a viewpoint of numbers alone.

Mapfarity bellowed, "Jean-Jacques, what are you doing?"

He called back over his shoulder, "I'm taking Lusine with us! She can
help us get the Earthman from the Amphibians!"

The Giant lumbered up behind him, threw a rope down to the eager hands
of Lusine and pulled her up without effort to the top of the well. A
second later, Rastignac leaped upon Mapfarity's back, dug his hands
under the upper fringe of the huge Skin and, ignoring its electrical
blasts, ripped downwards.

Mapfarity cried out with shock and surprise as his skin flopped on the
stones like a devilfish on dry land.

Archambaud ran up then and, without bothering to explain, the
Ssassaror and the Man seized him and peeled off _his_ artificial hide.

"Now we're all free men!" panted Rastignac. "And the mucketeers have
no way of locating us if we hide, nor can they punish us with shocks."

He put the Giant on his right side, Lusine on his left, and the
egg-stealer behind him. He removed the Jail-breaker's rapier from his
sheath. The official was too astonished to protest.

"_Law, m'zawfa!_" cried Rastignac, parodying in his grotesque French
the old Gallic war cry of "_Allons, mes enfants!_"

The King's official came to life and screamed orders at the group of
mucketeers who had poured into the courtyard. They halted in
confusion. They could not hear him above the roar of horns and thunder
of drums and the people sticking their heads out of windows and
shouting.

Rastignac scooped up with his epee one of t