office I ran into the messhall, and Cookie told me about
meal hours. I'm sure I'll get along fine here--as much as this awful
heat'll let me. They sure weren't kidding when they said it was hot
here. And I want to assure you, sir, that I'll work hard and tend
strictly to business--nothing else."

The superintendent was becoming more mollified and less fearful by the
second. Now he actually smiled, a rather pitiful travesty of a smile,
and Hanlon's sympathy went out to him.

"Then we'll get along fine," Philander said. "Just remember that your
job is only to keep the natives at work during your shift, and that in
your off hours you do not go hunting 'round into things that're none of
your business."

"Oh, naturally, sir. You just list what limits I'm to keep in, and I'll
stay there. All I'm after here is that thousand credits a month, and as
big a bonus as I can earn. You see," with engaging frankness, "I'm a guy
that wants to make his pile as quick as possible, so I won't have to
work all my life. I've got to work to get 'em, sure, but I don't aim to
work forever."

"Hmmpfff" Philander rose from behind the desk. "Come on, I'll show you
around."

Chapter 13

For an hour Superintendent Philander escorted George Hanlon about the
diggings, showing him the various buildings and the workers' stockade.
("Prison" would be a better word, Hanlon thought, enraged that there
were still men who would enslave others for their own personal gain.)

The young Earthman got a real shock of surprise at his first sight of
the native. They were so entirely different from anything he had ever
suspected might exist. They were tall and slender, and their
greenish-brown skin was rough and irregular. They seemed possessed of
considerable wiry strength, however.

Hanlon had the peculiar feeling that they were somehow familiar, as
though related to something he already knew, even though they were so
alien. But, strain as he might, he could not at first bring that elusive
thought into recognition.

He examined more particularly each item of the natives' appearance. They
had small triangular eyes, wide-spaced on their narrow faces, almost
like a bird's yet not set quite as far back. They could see forward and
somewhat to either side, he guessed, with a much wider range of vision
than humans have. They also had triangular-shaped mouths which worked
somewhat on the sphincter method. Even though their faces were sort of
silly-lookin