n; he wore a
gray tunic and breeches, polished black boots, and a cap with a visor
and a metal insignia on it; on a belt, he carried a holstered weapon
like a blaster.

After speaking to one of the workers, who pointed Hradzka out to him, he
approached the fugitive and said something. Hradzka made gestures at his
mouth and ears and made gargling sounds; the newcomer shrugged and
motioned him to come with him, at the same time producing a pair of
handcuffs from his belt and jingling them suggestively.

In a few seconds, Hradzka tried to analyze the situation and estimate
its possibilities. The newcomer was a soldier, or, more likely, a
policeman, since manacles were a part of his equipment. Evidently, since
the evening before, a warning had been made public by means of
communicating devices such as he had seen at the farm, advising people
that a man of his description, pretending to be a deaf-mute, should be
detained and the police notified; it had been for that reason that the
workman had persuaded his master to employ Hradzka. No doubt he would be
accused of causing the conditions at the farm by sorcery.

* * * * *

Hradzka shrugged and nodded, then went to the water-tap to turn off the
hose he had been using. He disconnected it, coiled it and hung it up,
and then picked up the water-bucket. Then, without warning, he hurled
the water into the policeman's face, sprang forward, swinging the bucket
by the bale, and hit the man on the head. Releasing his grip on the
bucket, he tore the blaster or whatever it was from the holster.

One of the workers swung a hammer, as though to throw it. Hradzka aimed
the weapon at him and pulled the trigger; the thing belched fire and
kicked back painfully in his hand, and the man fell. He used it again to
drop the policeman, then thrust it into the waistband of his trousers
and ran outside. The thing was not a blaster at all, he realized--only a
missile-projector like the big weapons at the farm, utilizing the force
of some chemical explosive.

The policeman's vehicle was standing outside. It was a small,
single-seat, two wheeled affair. Having become familiar with the
principles of these hydro-carbon engines from examination of the vehicle
of the farm, and accustomed as he was to far more complex mechanisms
than this crude affair, Hradzka could see at a glance how to operate it.
Springing onto the saddle, he kicked away the folding support and
start