alf arrogant warning, sounded
along the road behind them.

Van Rycke's stride did not vary. He did not turn his head, show any sign
he had heard that heralding fanfare for a clan chieftain. And he
continued to keep to the exact center of the road, Dane the regulation
one pace to the rear and left as befitted his lower rank.

"Houuu--" that blast from the throat of a Salarik especially chosen for
his lung power was accompanied now by the hollow drum of many feet. The
Terrans neither looked around nor withdrew from the center, nor did their
pace quicken.

That, too, was in order, Dane knew. To the rank conscious Salariki
clansmen you did not yield precedence unless you wanted at once to
acknowledge your inferiority--and if you did that by some slip of
admission or omission, there was no use in trying to treat face to face
with their chieftains again.

"Houuu--!" The blast behind was a scream as the retinue it announced
swept around the bend in the road to catch sight of the two Traders
oblivious of it. Dane longed to be able to turn his head, just enough to
see which one of the local lordlings they blocked.

"Houu--" there was a questioning note in the cry now and the heavy
thud-thud of feet was slacking. The clan party had seen them, were
hesitant about the wisdom of trying to shove them aside.

Van Rycke marched steadily onward and Dane matched his pace. They might
not possess a leather-lunged herald to clear their road, but they gave
every indication of having the right to occupy as much of it as they
wished. And that unruffled poise had its affect upon those behind. The
pound of feet slowed to a walk, a walk which would keep a careful
distance behind the two Terrans. It had worked--the Salariki--or these
Salariki--were accepting them at their own valuation--a good omen for the
day's business. Dane's spirits rose, but he schooled his features into a
mask as wooden as his superior's. After all this was a very minor victory
and they had ten or twelve hours of polite, and hidden, maneuvering
before them.

The Solar Queen had set down as closely as possible to the trading center
marked on Traxt Cam's private map and the Terrans now had another five
minutes march, in the middle of the road, ahead of the chieftain who must
be inwardly boiling at their presence, before they came out in the
clearing containing the roofless, circular erection which served the
Salariki of the district as a market place and a common meeti