d.

But the Major was gone. He must have done with no more than three or
four hours' sleep. There was an empty coffee cup whose contents he'd
gulped down before going back to the security office.

Joe trudged to the barbed-wire enclosure around the officers'-quarters
area and explained to the sentry where he wanted to go. A sleepy driver
whisked him around the half-mile circle to the security building and he
found his way to Major Holt's office.

The plain and gloomy secretary was already on the job, too. She led him
in to face Major Holt. He blinked at the sight of Joe.

"Hm.... I have some news," he observed. "We back-tracked the parcel that
exploded when it was dumped from the plane."

Joe had almost forgotten it. Too many other things had happened since.

"We've got two very likely prisoners out of that affair," said the
Major. "They may talk. Also, an emergency inspection of other transport
planes has turned up three other grenades tucked away in front-wheel
wells. Ah--CO_2 bottles have turned out to have something explosive in
them. A very nice bit of work, that! The sandy-haired man who fueled
your plane--ah--disappeared. That is bad!"

Joe said politely: "That's fine, sir."

"All in all, you've been the occasion of our forestalling a good deal of
sabotage," said the Major. "Bad for you, of course.... Did you find the
men you were looking for?"

"I've found them, but--."

"I'll have them transferred to work under your direction," said the
Major briskly. "Their names?"

Joe gave the names. The Major wrote them down.

"Very good. I'm busy now----"

"I've a tip for you," said Joe. "I think it should be checked right
away. I don't feel too good about it."

The Major waited impatiently. And Joe explained, very carefully, about
the fight on the Platform the day before, Braun's insistence on
finishing the fight in Bootstrap, and then the tip he'd given Joe after
everything was over. He repeated the message exactly, word for word.

The Major, to do him justice, did not interrupt. He listened with an
expression that varied between grimness and weariness. When Joe ended he
picked up a telephone. He talked briefly. Joe felt a reluctant sort of
approval. Major Holt was not a man one could ever feel very close to,
and the work he was in charge of was not likely to make him popular, but
he did think straight--and fast. He didn't think "hot" meant
"significant," either. When he'd hung up the phone he said curt