it stalked Gurgurk, the Konkrookan equivalent of Prime
Minister or Grand Vizier; he wore a gold helmet and a thing like a
string-vest made of gold wire, and carried a long sword with a
two-hand grip, a pair of Terran automatics built for a hand with
six-four-knuckled fingers, and a pair of matched daggers. He was
considerably past the Ullran prime of life--seventy or eighty, to
judge from the worn appearance of his opal teeth, the color of his
skin, and the predominantly reddish tint of his quartz-speckles. The
retinue of nobles behind Gurgurk ran through the whole spectrum, from
a princeling who was almost oyster-gray to the Keegarkan Ambassador,
who was even blacker and more red-speckled than Gurgurk.

Four slaves brought up in the rear, carrying an ornately inlaid box on
poles. When the spear-bearer reached the exact middle of the hall, he
halted and grounded his regalia-weapon with a thump. Gurgurk came up
and halted a couple of paces behind and to the left of the spear, and
most of the other nobles drew up in two curved lines some ten paces to
the rear; the ambassador and another noble came up and planted
themselves beside Gurgurk.

* * * * *

The Governor-General rose slowly and descended from the dais,
advancing to within ten paces of the Spear, von Schlichten and Blount
accompanying him.

"Welcome, Gurgurk," Harrington gibbered through his false palate. "The
Company is honored by this visit."

"I come in the name of my royal master, His Sublime and Ineffable
Majesty, Jaikark the Seventeenth, King of Konkrook and of all the
lands of the Konk Isthmus," Gurgurk squeaked and clicked. "I have the
honor to bring with me the Lord Ambassador of King Orgzild of Keegark
to the court of my royal master."

"And I," the ambassador said, after being suitably welcomed, "am
honored to be accompanied by Prince Gorkrink, special envoy from my
master, His Royal and Imperial Majesty King Orgzild, who is in your
city to receive the shipment of power-metal my royal master has been
honored to be permitted to purchase from the Company."

More protocol about welcoming Gorkrink. Then Gurgurk cleared his
throat with a series of barking sounds.

"My royal master, His Sublime and Ineffable Majesty, is prostrated
with grief," he stated solemnly. "Were his sorrow not so overwhelming,
he would have come in His Own Sacred Person to express the pain and
shame which he feels that people of the Company sho