k
to barrow to sorting, and so on."

A frown of annoyance came onto Philander's face, but he quickly erased
it. After all, this man was getting out more ore than the others, and
that was what he was here for. How he did it didn't matter so much,
after all, as long as he kept up his record.

But Hanlon, reading those surface thoughts, knew that the official was
still very suspicious--and vastly worried. Hanlon knew he had to disarm
the super some way, to get him out of that mood. He decided his air of
naivete could still do the trick.

"Mr. Philander, sir," his voice was very ingenuous, "I don't want to pry
into anything that's none of my business, but would you mind telling me
what this stuff is we're getting here? It isn't anything dangerous, is
it? I mean, it isn't one of those ... those radium ores that make a
fellow sterile, is it? I may want to get married some day, so I don't
want to take any chances."

The mining engineer looked at him blankly for a moment, then threw back
his head and laughter rolled out until it seemed to fill the stope.
Hanlon watched the other's mind clear itself of all suspicion ... at
least for the time being.

Philander rested his hand companionably on the younger man's shoulder.
"No, it's nothing like that, so you can quit worrying. And the bonus
you'll get, if you can keep up this output, will fix you so you can
afford a wife when your time's up and you go back to Sime."

"Gee, that's good," Hanlon made his voice and face show how relieved he
felt. "It had me worried, even though I haven't got a girl yet."

The superintendent seemed in good humor now. Hanlon caught the thought
that this punk was a good guard, and bright, and he did get the stuff
out. The plan of rotating the workers was good--he'd order the other
guards to use it. This Hanlon probably was no menace to their plans
here, after all. In fact, maybe later they could use him on the bigger
job. He (Philander) would so recommend to His Highness when he made his
next report.

After a few more casual words the super left, and Hanlon sank back onto
his favorite lounging place, thinking very seriously and contemplatively
about this whole matter.

Again he had run into that thought about someone called "His Highness,"
but never any indication as to who the man was, or what position he
occupied. It was now apparent that this individual was the man he would
have to ferret out, whose plans he would have to learn before the Co