will believe your story. You may even be asked
to pay damages."

Zircon drew himself up to his full height. "The day we pay damages for
the privilege of being shot at in this disreputable dive you fatuously
call a hotel will be the day Hong Kong sinks beneath the sea like
Atlantis. Now have the goodness to clear out and let us get some sleep."

The clerk's face was scarlet. Rick tried to hide a grin.

"You'll have to make a formal statement to the police," the clerk
snapped.

"In the morning," Zircon said. "In the morning we intend to see the
American consul. You will hear more about this incident than you expect,
my dear sir. Now clear out. We need our sleep. This has been most
unsettling."

One of the policemen pointed to Zircon's bloodstained sleeve. "But you
need medical attention, sir."

"I happen to be a doctor," Zircon said. That was true enough, but he was
a doctor of science, not of medicine.

"You expect to treat yourself?" the clerk asked incredulously.

"Nothing to it," Zircon boomed. "A trifle. Why, once, when hunting in
Africa, I had my back clawed by a lion. I stitched the wounds up
myself."

The clerk was on the verge of a stroke. "You couldn't treat your own
back," he almost screamed. "Impossible! How could you?"

"He turned around so he could see what he was doing," Scotty said. "Good
night, all." He shepherded them through the door and closed it.

For a moment there was excited conversation from outside, then the
clerk, the policemen, and the coolies retreated down the hall.

"They'll be back," Zircon said wearily, "but not before morning, I
hope."

Rick looked at Scotty. "He turned around so he could see what he was
doing," he repeated. "My sainted aunt!"

"Sewed up his own back," Scotty gibed. "Professor! You told that nice
man a fib!"

"Great big juicy fib," Zircon said gravely. "Do I wash out my mouth with
soap or do I get a medal?"

"Medal," the boys said, and laughed heartily.

"Whatever got into you?" Rick asked the scientist.

Zircon stripped off his coat and rolled up his sleeve. "He was so
pompous and so serious that I just couldn't resist. Besides, if I had
been serious, we never would have gotten rid of them. Here, Rick. I'll
need antiseptic and a gauze compress for this."

The boys looked at the wound. As Zircon had said, it was trivial. The
slug had made a neat furrow across the surface of the skin, just deep
enough to cause a good flow of blood. The wound alrea