y decided that
there wasn't room to get into it.

He grunted a greeting and looked at them speculatively.

"Those two characters from Walden," he observed, "sent me to get
something from this thing, here. Don Loris told 'em I was a very honest
man."

He painstakingly looked like a very honest man. After a moment there
were responsive grins.

"If there's anything missing when I start back," said Hoddan, "I can't
imagine how it happened! None of you would take anything. Oh, no! I bet
you'll blame it on me!" He shook his head and said "_Tsk. Tsk. Tsk._"

One of the guards sat up and said appreciatively:

"But it's locked. Good."

"Being an honest man," said Hoddan amiably, "they told me how to unlock
it."

He got off his horse. He removed the bag from his saddle. He went into
the grateful shadow of the metal hull. He paused and mopped his face and
then went to the entrance port. He put his hand on the turning bar. Then
he painstakingly pushed in the locking-stud with his other hand. Of
course the handle turned. The boat port opened. The two from Walden
would have thought everything safe because it was under guard. On Walden
that protection would have been enough. On Darth, the spaceboat had not
been looted simply because locks, there, were not made with separate
vibration-checks to keep vibration from loosening them. On spaceboats
such a precaution was usual.

"Give me two minutes," said Hoddan over his shoulder. "I have to get
what they sent me for. After that everybody starts even."

He entered and closed the door behind him. Then he locked it. By the
nature of things it is as needful to be able to lock a spaceboat from
the inside as it is unnecessary to lock it from without.

He looked things over. Standard equipment everywhere. He checked
everything, even to the fuel supply. There were knockings on the port.
He continued to inspect. He turned on the visionscreens, which provided
the control room--indeed, all the boat--with an unobstructed view in all
directions. He was satisfied.

The knocks became bangings. Something approaching indignation could be
deduced. The guards around the spaceboat felt that Hoddan was taking an
unfair amount of time to pick the cream of the loot inside.

He got a glass of water. It was excellent. A second.

The bangings became violent hammerings.

Hoddan seated himself leisurely in the pilot's seat and turned small
knobs. He waited. He touched a button. There was a mildly t