open the outer door for them. He returned to the desk
beside Martha and took a gun out of his coat pocket. He pointed it at
her, frowned in indecision, then slowly, with perspiration standing out
on his forehead, pulled out the clip and emptied the barrel of the gun.

"Good for you," Martha said. She picked up her book and started reading.
Dr. Hargrave put the gun back in his pocket and went to the door.

"Take a few days off starting tomorrow," he said before going out. "I'm
going to be slowly going crazy trying to figure this mess out. That's
why I insisted to Dr. Bemis that I be confined _with_ the crew of the
_Endore_--just in case."

His heels made loud noises on the marble floor of the corridor. He
pushed through the revolving doors to the sidewalk.

There was an argument going on between a small newsboy and an elderly
gentlemen type of man.

"I tell you there's only two pennies," the boy insisted.

"There's four," the man insisted just as strongly. "See?"

He pried open the boy's fingers and looked.

"Sorry," he said. "You're right." His hand went into his pocket to make
up the deficit.

"Hey! Wait a minute," the boy said. "I was wrong. You gave me two
pennies too much."

A small pudgy finger took two of the pennies. The boy glanced at the
others to make sure the right number were left.

Nale was close enough to see what happened. He saw the pennies taken
from what seemed to be seven or eight in the boy's palm. When the two
were taken away there seemed to be a slight blur--and there was only a
solitary penny left.

He didn't wait. The paper boy and the customer were still patiently
arguing as he climbed into his car and drove away. He drove slowly with
his foot close to the brakes.

Although his eyes were warily watching each car on the street, his mind
was busy. _He was trying to figure out who had been shot._

"It might even have been me!" he thought. And there was no way of
knowing.

He drove the car another block. There was doubt growing in his mind. On
a sudden impulse he pulled the car over to the curb and stopped the
motor. Getting out, he started walking rapidly. There would be three
miles of walking before he reached observation, but it would be safer to
walk.

A block further he stopped abruptly in surprise. The spaceport
observation hospital was just in front of him.

"I should have guessed," he muttered as he pushed through the heavy
doors. "The speedometer, of course. Naturally