done perhaps
murder."

"Poot. One overworries. And if death comes to this one, observe, will
the money be paid? Of a surety. But this is bizarre."

"Truly bizarre," the girl nodded. Then to make her point, "also
curious, unique, unusual. My thought: from what land he comes?"

"The cloth is rare," one of the men said, "observe with tight eyes the
object on his wrist. A many-symboled engine--"

"_My_ engine," the girl said positively. She reached down for his
watch.

Travis jerked back. "Lay off there," he bawled in English, "you
hipless--" The girl recoiled. He could not see her face but her tone
was puzzled.

"What language is this? He speaks with liquid."

The larger of the two men arose and came over to him.

"Speak again scourge. But first empty the mouth."

Travis glared at the man's feet, which were wrapped in dirty cloth and
smelt like the breezes blowing softly over fresh manure.

"Speak again? Speak again? Untie my hands, you maggoty slob, and I'll
speak your bloody--" he went on at great length, but the man ignored
him.

"Truly, he speaks as with a full mouth. But this is not Bilken talk."

"Nor is he, of clarity and also profundity, a hill man," the girl
observed.

"Poot. Pootpoot," the young man stuttered, "the light! He is of
_Them_!"

It took the other two a moment to understand what he meant, but Travis
caught on immediately. May the Saints preserve us, he thought, they
figured I was from Mert. He chuckled happily to himself. A natural
mistake. Only one Earthman on this whole blinking planet, puts up at a
good hotel, best in town, these boys put the snatch on me thinking I'm
a visiting VIP, loaded, have no idea I'm just poor common trash like
the rest of us Earthmen. Haw! His face split in a wide grin. He
gathered his words from the Langkit and began to speak in Mert.

"Exactly, friends. With clarity one sees that you have been misled. I
am not of Mert. I am from a far world, come here to deal with your
Senate in peace. Untie me, then, and let us erase this sad but
eraseable mistake with a good handshake all around, and a speedy
farewell."

It did not have the effect he desired. The girl stepped back from
him, a dark frown on her face, and the large man above him spoke
mournfully.

"Where now is the ransom?"

"And the risk," the girl said. "Was not there great risk?"

"Unhappily," the tall man observed. "One risks. One should be repaid.
It is in the nature of things that one is r