wers behind them, the men could
work a lot closer, and the fire wasn't spreading as rapidly. They were
saving a lot of wax; each one of those big sausages that the lifters
picked up and floated away weighed a thousand pounds, and was worth,
at the new price, eight hundred sols.

Finally, they got everything away that they could, and then the
blowers were shut down and the two dredge shovels moved in, scooping
up the burning sludge and carrying it away, scattering it on the
concrete. I would have judged that there had been six or seven million
sols' worth of wax in the piles to start with, and that a little more
than half of it had been saved before they pulled the last cylinder
away.

The work slacked off; finally, there was nothing but the two dredges
doing anything, and then they backed away and let down, and it was all
over but standing around and watching the scattered fire burn itself
out. I looked at my watch. It was two hours since the first alarm had
come in. I took a last swing around, got the spaceport people
gathering up wax and hauling it away, and the broken lake of fire that
extended downtown from where the stacks had been, and then I floated
my jeep over to the sandwich-and-coffee stand and let down, getting
out. Maybe, I thought, I could make some kind of deal with somebody
like Interworld News on this. It would make a nice thrilling
feature-program item. Just a little slice of life from Fenris, the
Garden Spot of the Galaxy.

I got myself a big zhoumy-loin sandwich with hot sauce and a cup of
coffee, made sure that my portable radio was on, and circulated among
the fire fighters, getting comments. Everybody had been a hero,
natch, and they were all very unbashful about admitting it. There was
a great deal of wisecracking about Al Devis buying himself a ringside
seat for the fire he'd started. Then I saw Cesario Vieira and joined
him.

"Have all the fire you want, for a while?" I asked him.

"Brother, and how! We could have used a little of this over on Hermann
Reuch's Land, though. Have you seen Tom around anywhere?"

"No. Have you?"

"I saw him over there, about an hour ago. I guess he stayed on this
side. After they started blowing it, I was over on Al Devis's side."
He whistled softly. "Was that a mess!"

There was still a crowd at the fire, but they seemed all to be
townspeople. The hunters had gathered where Joe Kivelson had been
directing operations. We finished our sandwiches and went