s
indicate now that one is brewing. I haven't been able to do more than a
few hours of work in the last two months. I've been waiting for the
weather to break, but so far it hasn't."

"Do you mean to tell me," Ward said incredulously, "that you've been
sitting here, twiddling your thumbs for the past two months because
you're afraid to take a chance on a wind blowing up?"

"That is exactly what I mean," Halliday said. "But it isn't the wind I'm
afraid of. It's the things that come with the wind that make any field
work impossible. I've learned a few things about the Raspers in my three
years and one is that it doesn't pay to give them a chance. That's all
they need. That's all they're waiting for."

Ward stood up impatiently and jammed his fists into his pockets. It took
all of his self control not to let his anger and contempt for the man
explode in roaring fury.

"I can't understand your attitude," he said at last, through tight lips.
"I'm green and new here. I don't know anything about the set-up except
what you've told me. But I know from your own admission that you've
never seen these things you're so mortally afraid of, you've never stood
up to them and given them a taste of ray juice to think about, you don't
really know anything about them, except that you're terrified of the
very thought of them. That isn't a reasonable attitude. Only one kind of
man thinks that way, and that's a man without a touch of starch in his
backbone, or a bit of honest-to-goodness guts in his make-up. If you
want to hug this place like a scared school-girl that's all right, but
I'll be double-damned if I'm going to let any superstitious nonsense
keep me from doing the job I was sent here to do."

"That is a very brave speech, Lieutenant," Halliday said, "and I admire
you for it. But you are going to do as I say in spite of your own
opinions. We will stay here and take no unnecessary chances until our
instruments indicate that the monsoon weather has passed. That is an
order."

* * * * *

Ward choked back his wrath. He glared at Halliday for an instant, then
wheeled and strode into the small storeroom that was to serve as his
sleeping quarters. He banged the door shut and sat down on the edge of
the cot, his fingers opening and closing nervously.

He wasn't sure just what he'd do, but he didn't intend to stand for
Halliday's craven policy of hiding in a locked room, instead of doing
the work his