he
awed whispering, was--Darbor....

_The Pot o' Stars_ combined drinking, dancing and gambling. A few
people even ate food. There was muffled gaiety, glitter of glass and
chromium, and general bad taste in the decoration. The hostesses were
dressed merely to tempt and tease the homesick and lovelorn
prospectors and lure the better-paid mine-workers into a deadly
proximity to alcohol and gambling devices.

* * * * *

The girl went ahead, and Denver followed, regretting his politeness
when she beat him to the only unoccupied table. It had a big sign,
_Reserved_, but she seemed waiting for no one, since she ordered a
drink and merely played with it. She seemed wrapped in speculative
contemplation of the other customers, as if estimating the possible
profits to the house.

On impulse, Denver edged to her table and stood looking down at her.
Cold eyes, like amber ice, looked through him.

"I know I look like a spacetramp," he observed. "But I'm not
invisible. Mind if I pull up a cactus and squat?"

Her eyes were chill calculation.

"Suit yourself ... if you like to live dangerously."

Denver laughed and sat down. "How important are you? Or is it
something else? You don't look so deadly. I'll buy you a drink if you
like. Or dance, if you're careless about toes."

Her cold shrug stopped him. "Skip it," she snapped. "Buy yourself a
drink if you can afford it. Then go."

"What makes you rate a table to yourself? I could go now but I won't.
The liquor here's probably poison but who pays for it makes no
difference to me. Maybe you'd like to buy me a short snort. Or just
snort at me again. On you, it looks good."

The girl gazed at him languorously, puzzled. Then she let go with a
laugh which sparkled like audible champagne.

"Good for you," she said eagerly. "You're just a punk, but you have
guts. Guts, but what else? Got any money?"

Denver bristled. "Pots of it," he lied, as any other man would. Then,
remembering suddenly, "Not with me but I know where to lay hands on
plenty of it."

Her eyes calculated. "You're not the goon who came in from the
Appenines today? With a wild tale of murder and claim-jumpers and old
Martian workings?"

Quick suspicion dulled Denver's appreciation of beauty.

She laughed sharply. "Don't worry about me, stupid. I heard it all
over town. Policemen talk. For me, they jump through hoops. Everybody
knows. You'd be smart to lie low before someone jump