of the solid objects in the bundle was a flat wooden case,
about nine by ten inches. I slid it open. It was divided carefully into
sections cushioned with sponge-absorbent plastic, and in them lay tiny
slips of glass, on Wolf as precious as jewels. They were lenses--camera
lenses, microscope lenses, even eyeglass lenses. Packed close, there
were nearly a hundred of them nested by the shock-absorbent stuff.

They were my excuse for travel to Shainsa. Over and above the
necessities of trade, a few items of Terran manufacture--vacuum tubes,
transistors, lenses for cameras and binoculars, liquors and finely
forged small tools--are literally worth their weight in platinum.

Even in cities where Terrans have never gone, these things bring
exorbitant prices, and trading in them is a Dry-town privilege. Rakhal
had been a trader, so Juli told me, in fine wire and surgical
instruments. Wolf is not a mechanized planet, and has never developed
any indigenous industrial system; the psychology of the nonhuman seldom
runs to technological advances.

I went down the hallway again to the room where Juli was waiting.
Catching a glimpse in a full-length mirror, I was startled. All traces
of the Terran civil servant, clumsy and uncomfortable in his ill-fitting
clothes, had dropped away. A Dry-towner, rangy and scarred, looked out
at me, and it seemed that the expression on his face was one of
amazement.

Joanna whirled as I came into the room and visibly paled before,
recovering her self-control, she gave a nervous little giggle.
"Goodness, Race, I didn't know you!"

Juli whispered, "Yes, I--I remember you better like that. You're--you
look so much like--"

The door flew open and Mickey Magnusson scampered into the room, a
chubby little boy browned by a Terra-type sunlamp and glowing with
health. In his hand he held some sparkling thing that gave off tiny
flashes and glints of color.

I gave the kid a grin before I realized that I was disguised anyhow and
probably a hideous sight. The little boy backed off, but Joanna put her
plump hand on his shoulder, murmuring soothing things.

Mickey toddled toward Juli, holding up the shining thing in his hands as
if to display something very precious and beloved. Juli bent and held
out her arms, then her face contracted and she snatched at the
plaything.

"Mickey, what's that?"

He thrust it protectively behind his back. "Mine!"

"Mickey, don't be naughty," Joanna chided.

"Please let