shining metal and leather. Though he needed urgently to rest himself, he glanced at their proffered comforts only briefly. His keen blue eyes had spotted a bookcase against the far wall.

His light brows drew together as he studied the titles on their backs. They were in English, but the titles were as unfamiliar to him as were the bindings upon which they were printed. There were a book on navigation by a man named Bowditch, a set of volumes on sea power by an Admiral Mahan, a nest of volumes on something called radar by a man with an unpronounceable name.

From them, alien as they were, he derived some satisfaction. He was either on a fantastic sort of a ship or in some place where ship lore was a topic of discussion. He looked further and his blue eyes bulged. His own name stared back at him in letters of gold leaf.

Plucking the book out, he leafed it open incredulously, sat down on the nearest alien metal and leather chair—which proved surprisingly comfortable as it gave just enough beneath his weight. Using his left hand dextrously, he turned to the contents page.

It was then that voices at the open doorway caused him to look up abruptly.

"... no actual damage done beyond what we have already suffered, sir," said one of them. "But it was close."

"We should be out of the pattern, Smithers," said another, deeper voice. "Once we're out of the area we may be able to dock her ourselves. So at least our mission has been accomplished."

"Then we're definitely doomed, sir?" the first voice inquired. Like the other, he spoke incisive English, but in accents unlike any the listener had ever heard.

"The Geiger counters tell the story and it's all bad," came the reply. "It's all right for you and me—but when I think of the men ... well, I'm not sorry we gave the devils what we did. They had it coming to them."

"They did indeed, sir. It's odd about the men. Mass hysteria is the last thing I'd have figured on, even under the present circumstances."

"Such things are not new to the sea, Smithers. But the men who reported it didn't seem hysterical."

"But reporting sight of a fleet of square-riggers, sir—square-riggers under full sail—twenty or thirty of them. It's way beyond me, sir."

"Beyond me too, 

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