n. Rockford, despite his drunken stupors, could be
shrewdly observant and he might deduce the contents of the letter before
Supreme Command ever received it.

He was some distance from the cabin when he heard the pound of padded
feet behind him.

"Rootenant," Alonzo had the grin of a genial canine idiot. "Do you want
me to mair your retter to your dear ore mother?"

"Yes, I have the letter right here."

"O.K. I got to hurry, because the mair hericopter reaves right away. I
charge six fig cookies or three candy bars or--"

"Here--take it and run--and try not to slobber all over it."

* * * * *

They were served breakfast in the cabin. Afterward, Rockford went for a
brief talk with Princess Lyla. He came back and settled down in the
easy-chair, his pipe in his hand.

"Your morning's duty won't be at all unpleasant," he said. "The
obnoxious and repulsive things will begin to happen to you later. Maybe
this afternoon."

"What do you mean?"

"This morning you will go for a walk with Princess Lyla and discuss
changing the Vestan Space Guard into a force along Terran Space Patrol
lines. Narf is still in bed, by the way."

Rockford added, "I'll give you a bit of sage advice, for your own
good--try not to fall in love with her."

* * * * *
* * * *

Hunter and Princess Lyla sat together on the high hill, their backs
against the red trunk of a cloud tree. On the mountain's slope to their
right lay the dark and junglelike Tiger Forest--he wondered if it was
true that the savage tree tigers never left its borders--while the
toylike cabins of the camp were below them. The mountain's slope dropped
on down to the deserts, beyond which were other mountains, far away and
translucent azure.

"It was George who suggested we come up here," she said. "He knows I do
that often when the responsibilities of being queen of a world--I'm such
an ordinary and untalented person--become too much for me. I always feel
better when I sit up here and look down on the mountains and deserts."

"Yes," he said politely.

"A ruling princess can be so alone," she said. "That's why I appreciate
George's friendship so much--it's never because of any ulterior motive
but because he likes me."

_I'm going to use her, and you, to get what I want._

He looked at her, at the lines of sadness on the face that was too old
for its years, felt the way she was