landed to leeward and had to make his way up-wind by crawling, assisted by a Mercurian "staff," or one of the rakes among his trade goods. As he crawled, he observed he was being watched from a loophole beside the door. But as he drew himself erect, the door opened and a man came out to greet him.

"Hello, Captain," said the man, cordially, "we're very glad to see you. Come in and rest yourself." The man, Karns observed, was dressed in a heavily quilted suit and was breathing heavily. But he had a full head of hair and a luxuriant mustache.

"Howdy, yourself," returned the Lone Trader. "Phew! It's shore dusty hereabouts—I've heard of the place but I never seen it. The far Trojans is my bailiwick and the asteroids in that corner...."

"Really?" said the man, helping his visitor through the door. The office was a single room, and no one else was in it. There was a bottle of voilet-hued liquor on the table and two glasses. "Have a drink? This is home brew—our Mercurian version of comet-dew—made from flowers that grow under the glacier lips."

"Don't care ef I do," remarked Karns, and sat down in the seat indicated. "As I was saying, I thought I'd look in on this place, seeing as how I had to make the perihelion hop home. Have to git home to see my oldest grandchild married."

"Wouldn't be interested in a bit of cargo, would you?" asked the man. "Our own ship is overdue, and I have some freight for Venus."

"I'm allus interested in a bit of cargo," said Karns, "but this trip I can't stop by Venus—time's too short."

"Oh, well," said his host, indifferently, "it doesn't matter about that. I was thinking of shipping some boxes of claws and hides to our agent at Venusberg for sale there. We are a new company and have no outlets on Terra yet, unless you wanted to speculate on your own account and buy them outright."

"Speculation's my business," said Hank Karns, serene and bland. And added, with just a touch of foxiness, "ef the buying price is right."

"Oh, we won't quarrel about that," laughed the man. "The hides are a by-product with us—this is a pharmaceutical outfit. We make a preparation from the hormones of these beasts. You can have the horns at almost any price."

They spent the better part of an hour in good natured haggling, the child-like old man raising first one trivial objection after 

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