a minor official, and had indeed been so taken by
the unnoticing inhabitants of innumerable planets.

People had wondered, when word came of some new outrage by this
master-thief, if perhaps he had disguised himself as a resident of the
scene of each fresh crime, but now it was obvious that this had not
been necessary. He had been too clever to pick any planet where
visitors from Earth were not a common sight, and he had been too
insignificant for anyone to pay attention to him.

* * * * *

The criminal code of Agsk is unique in the Galaxy, though there are
rumors of something similar among a legendary extinct tribe on Earth
called the Guanches. The high priest is also the chief executive (as
well as the minister of education and head of the medical faculty),
and he rules jointly with a priestess who also officiates as chief
judge.

The Agskians have some strange ideas to a terrestrial eye--for
example, suicide is an honor, and anyone of insufficient rank who
commits it condemns his immediate family to punishment for his
presumption. They are great family people, in general. Also, they
never lie, and find it hard to realize that other beings do.

Murder, to them, is merely a matter for negotiation between the
murderer and the relatives of the victim, provided it is open and
without deceit. But grand larceny, since property is the foundation of
the family, is punished in a way that shows that the Agskians, though
technologically primitive, are psychologically very advanced.

They reason that death, because it comes inevitably to all, is the
least of misfortunes. Lasting grief, remorse and guilt are the
greatest. So they let the thief live and do not even imprison him.

Instead, they find out who it is that the criminal most loves. If they
do not know who it is, they merely ask him, and since Agskians never
lie, he always tells them. Then they seize that person, and kill him
or her, slowly and painfully, before the thief's eyes.

And the agreement had been that The Eel was to be tried and punished
by the laws and customs of the planet to which he was awarded.

The actual trial and conviction of The Eel were almost perfunctory.
Without needing to resort to torture, his jailers had been presented,
on a platter as it were, with a full confession--so far as the
particular robbery he had committed on Agsk was concerned. There is a
provision for defense in the Agskian code, but it was un