trusted retainer." Then he practically wailed, "You must be the man I
was sent to meet! He sent me to learn if you came on the ship! I should
have fought by your side! This is disgrace!"

"It's disgraceful," agreed Hoddan grimly. But he, who had been born and
raised in a space-pirate community, should not be too critical of
others. "Let it go. How do I find him?"

"I should take you!" complained Thal bitterly. "But you have killed all
these men. Their friends and chieftains are honor bound to cut your
throat! And you shot Merk, but he ran away, and he will be summoning his
friends to come and kill you now! This is shame! This is--" Then he said
hopefully: "Your strange weapon! How many men can you fight? If fifty,
we may live to ride away. If more, we may even reach Don Loris' castle.
How many?"

"We'll see what we see," said Hoddan dourly. "But I'd better charge
these other pistols. You can come with me, or wait. I haven't killed
these men. They're only stunned. They'll come around presently."

He went out of the warehouse, carrying the bag which was again loaded
with uncharged stun-pistols. He went back to the grid's control room. He
pushed it open and entered for the second time. The red-headed man swore
and rubbed at his hand. The man who'd smiled unpleasantly lay in a heap
on the floor. The second unshaven man jittered visibly at sight of
Hoddan.

"I'm back," said Hoddan politely, "for more kilowatts."

He put his bag conveniently close to the terminals at which his pistols
could be recharged. He snapped open a pistol butt and presented it to
the electric contacts.

"Quaint customs you have here," he said conversationally. "Robbing a
newcomer. Resenting his need for a few watts of power that comes free
from the sky." The stun-pistol clicked. He snapped the butt shut and
opened another, which he placed in contact for charging. "Making him
act," he said acidly, "with manners as bad as the local ones. Going at
him with knives so he has to be resentful in his turn." The second
stun-pistol clicked. He closed it and began to charge a third. He said
severely: "Innocent tourists--relatively innocent ones, anyhow--are not
likely to be favorably impressed with Darth!" He had the charging
process going swiftly now. He began to charge a fourth weapon. "It's
particularly bad manners," he added sternly, "to stand there grinding
your teeth at me while your friend behind the desk crawls after an
old-fashioned chemical gu