light grinding motion on
the first sheet of the sheaf of papers....

Lar Tantril reached out his hand for the sheaf. "So, obeying Dr. Ku's
orders, I had the house searched and got these papers. They, must be
valuable, Carse, since you wanted them so badly. Ku Sui will be
pleased. Hand them over."

With but the barest flick of gray eyes downward. Hawk Carse gave the
sheaf to Tantril.

But his brief glance at the top-most sheet told him all he wanted to
know. Gradually, methodically, the motion of thumb and forefinger had
totally effaced the revealing figure 5,576.34, the one clue to the
location of Leithgow's laboratory. Enough! What he had set out to do
was finished. The chief task was achieved!

"And now, perhaps," Lar Tantril chuckled, "a little entertainment."

His men pricked up their ears. This language was more understandable.
Entertainment meant playing with the prisoner--torture. And alkite,
probably, and isuan. A night of revelry!

But Hawk Carse smiled thinly at this.

"Entertainment, Tantril?" his cold voice said. He paused, and then
added slowly: "What a fool you are!"

* * * * *

Lar Tantril was not annoyed by the words. He only laughed and slapped
his thigh.

"Yes?" he mocked. "Truly, Captain Carse, you must be frightened, to
try and anger me so I'll shoot! Do you fear a skewer-blade so much? We
would leave most of you for Ku Sui!"

Carse shook his head. "No, Lar Tantril, I don't want you to shoot me.
I'm telling you you're a fool--because you think me one."

With a wave of his hands the Venusian protested: "No, no, not at all.
You're infernally clever, Carse. I'll always be the first to admit
it."

"Then do you think I'd attack your ranch alone?"

"You'd like me to believe you have friends hidden somewhere?" Tantril
asked, smiling tolerantly.

Carse's voice came back curtly. "Believe what you like, but learn
this: It's your boast that your ranch is impregnable, guarded on every
side and from every angle. I'm telling you it's not. Its vulnerable.
It's wide open to one way of attack and my friends and I know it
well."

For a second the Venusian's assurance wavered.

"Vulnerable?" he said. "Open to attack? You're just stalling!"

Whip-like words cut through.

"Wait and see. Wait till the ranch is stormed and wiped out. Wait
twenty minutes! Only twenty!"

Hawk Carse was always listened to when he spoke in such manner. Lar
Tantril stared at the hard gr