g out in the center of the yard. Rabbi Pete
Goldsmid and Doc Slade insist on coming with me although," he chuckled,
"I understand Squeaker Hanley's screaming for the doc to cut out his
gall bladder." A few of the men laughed. "All right, here I come. And
you fellows behind me, keep off the wire. I don't want this mike to go
dead and have to yell my lungs out."

They saw the eddy of men around him move slowly through the broken gate
and out of their sight.

"What will he tell them," muttered Knox.

"Whatever--they'll believe it," Court said. The courtyard before them
was now empty. He stared thoughtfully out the barred window, then said,
"Think you could get to the gate office pretty soon, now--"

"No!" snarled Knox. "I want to see what happens to that gutty
so-and-so!"

Lansing grinned nervously. "Somehow, captain, I feel it won't be
necessary for us to sneak out of here."

* * * * *

They listened again while assorted thieves, murderers, rapists,
men--save for an innocent few--whose hands were consistently raised
against their fellows' peace and property, heard their jailor tell them
that the end of their world, a world that many of them remembered but
dimly, was coming to an end. The screaming broke out again when Halloran
spoke of the Mars-bound ships, and, for a moment, the three in the
office thought he had lost control. But the amplifiers prevailed and
Halloran laughed and said, "Anyway, we're not going to Mars--"

"_You_ can go!"

The man who yelled that was apparently very close to the warden within
his view, for they heard him say: "Chrisman, you're a fool--as usual!
Would I bother to come out here and talk to you if I could go?"

That got them. That, they understood. If a guy didn't scram from a hot
spot when he could ... well, then, he couldn't scram in the first place.
So, the warden was stuck, just like they were.

Later, perhaps, a few of them might figure out why.

"Now, let's have no more interruptions," Halloran said. "_I_ don't think
there's any need to go. Neither does the doc, here, or the rabbi. We're
all staying--because the desert to the south of us has stopped the
spread of this dust and it seems it can't cross the rivers, either. So,
we're safe enough."

"But that's not true," groaned Lansing.

Court glanced at him. "Would you tell them different?" he said coldly.

"No--"

Halloran said, "Well, that's that. Life is a little difficult outside
an