tant
member of the regular crew. And the portly Sinbad, before their landing
on Sargol, had never presented any problem. He had done his duty of
ridding the ship of unusual and usual pests and cargo despoilers with
dispatch, neatness and energy. And when in port on alien worlds had never
shown any inclination to go a-roving.

But the scents of Sargol had apparently intoxicated him, shearing away
his solid dignity and middle-aged dependability. Now Sinbad flashed out
of the Queen at the opening of her port in the early morning and was
brought back, protesting with both voice and claws, at the end of the day
by that member of the juvenile population whose turn it was to collect
the standing reward for his forceful delivery. Within three days it had
become an accepted business transaction which satisfied everyone but
Sinbad.

The scrape of metal boot soles on ladder rungs warned of the arrival of
their officers. Ali and Dane withdrew down the corridor, leaving the
entrance open for Jellico and Van Rycke. Then they drifted back to
witness the meeting with the Eysies.

There were no prolonged greetings between the two parties, no offer of
hospitality as might have been expected between Terrans on an alien
planet a quarter of the Galaxy away from the earth which had given them a
common heritage.

Jellico, with Van Rycke at his shoulder, halted before he stepped from
the ramp so that the three Inter-Solar men, Captain, Cargo-master and
escort, whether they wished or no, were put in the disadvantageous
position of having to look up to a Captain whom they, as members of one
of the powerful Companies, affected to despise. The lean, well muscled,
trim figure of the Queen's commander gave the impression of hard bitten
force held in check by will control, just as his face under its thick
layer of space burn was that of an adventurer accustomed to make split
second decisions--an estimate underlined by that seam of blaster burn
across one flat cheek.

Van Rycke, with a slight change of dress, could have been a Company man
in the higher ranks--or so the casual observer would have placed him,
until an observer marked the eyes behind those sleepy drooping lids, or
caught a certain note in the calm, unhurried drawl of his voice. To look
at the two senior officers of the Free Trading spacer were the antithesis
of each other--in action they were each half of a powerful, steamroller
whole--as a good many men in the Service--scattered o