leave here. Was there some danger here of which he
had not been told ... or was it that the leader's promise of four
months' work and then a vacation back to Simonides perhaps meant nothing
at all--was merely a "come on"?

It was more than the perspiration from the terrible heat that dampened
Hanlon's skin as he walked thoughtfully over to the store. Yet he
tingled with the knowledge that at least he knew where he was. Now, his
only worry was getting that knowledge to the Corps.

At dinner a little later he had his first chance to meet all the men
with whom he would be working. The superintendent introduced them, all
around when they sat down at the long table.

There were eleven other guards, all older, all bigger men than he. They
were alike in that all appeared to be swaggering bullies, and he could
well imagine how ready they were with the use of those shock-rods, or
other forms of brutality, to torture the Algonians at the least
provocation or no provocation whatever. Without exception these guards
had heavy faces, most of them unshaven, and most with thick, shaggy
eyebrows. Even in that air-cooled room their generally unwashed
condition was noticeable.

Hanlon knew instinctively he would make no friends among them. "I only
hope I make no enemies. Why was I, so drastically different from them,
chosen as a guard? What's that leader got in his devious mind, anyway?"

There were four mining engineers, and these men were keen, alert
fellows. One seemed about forty-five, another in his late thirties, and
the two others young men evidently not long out of school. They were
clean-shaven, and friendly where the guards were surly and sneering at
Hanlon's youth and slimness.

There was an accountant, the store clerk, two checkers who tallied ore
brought up each shift. A half dozen others, who apparently were truckmen
and hoistmen, completed, with Philander, the cook and the bunkhouse
cleaner, the human crew at this mine.

Hanlon had been seated between one of the guards, a huge man by the name
of Groton, and one of the young engineers. The latter made him welcome,
and asked where he came from.

"I'd just moved to Simonides when I got the chance to come here," Hanlon
explained. "I was born and raised on Terra."

"Terra!" the young man's voice was interested, and several others about
the table raised their heads at that name. "I've always wanted to see
the Mother World."

When all had finished eating, several of t