on't want to have
to come down there and clean you out. It'd be a shame to have to blast
that city into little pieces."

Tanub wilted. Presently, he said: "Send me back. I will discuss this
with ... our council." He stared at Orne. "You I-A's are too strong. We
did not know."

* * * * *

In the wardroom of Stetson's scout cruiser, the lights were low, the
leather chairs comfortable, the green beige table set with a decanter of
Hochar brandy and two glasses.

Orne lifted his glass, sipped the liquor, smacked his lips. "For a while
there, I thought I'd never be tasting anything like this again."

Stetson took his own glass. "ComGO heard the whole thing over the
general monitor net," he said. "D'you know you've been breveted to
senior field man?"

"Ah, they've already recognized my sterling worth," said Orne.

The wolfish grin took over Stetson's big features. "Senior field men
last about half as long as the juniors," he said. "Mortality's
terrific?"

"I might've known," said Orne. He took another sip of the brandy.

Stetson flicked on the switch of a recorder beside him. "O.K. You can go
ahead any time."

"Where do you want me to start?"

"First, how'd you spot right away where they'd hidden the _Delphinus_?"

"Easy. Tanub's word for his people was _Grazzi_. Most races call
themselves something meaning _The People_. But in his tongue that's
_Ocheero_. _Grazzi_ wasn't on the translated list. I started working on
it. The most likely answer was that it had been adopted from another
language, and meant _enemy_."

"And _that_ told you where the _Delphinus_ was?"

"No. But it fitted my hunch about these Gienahns. I'd kind of felt from
the first minute of meeting them that they had a culture like the
Indians of ancient Terra."

"Why?"

"They came in like a primitive raiding party. The leader dropped right
onto the hood of my sled. An act of bravery, no less. Counting coup, you
see?"

"I guess so."

"Then he said he was High Path Chief. That wasn't on the language list,
either. But it was easy: _Raider Chief._ There's a word in almost every
language in history that means raider and derives from a word for road,
path or highway."

"Highwaymen," said Stetson.

"Raid itself," said Orne. "An ancient Terran language corruption of
road."

"Yeah, yeah. But where'd all this translation griff put--"

"Don't be impatient. Glass-blowing culture meant they were just out of
the pr