The Prinkip had quite properly refused delivery, and Hannah had stuck me with her and her incipient progeny.

I needn't have worried. Captain Hannah didn't want her back. He just wanted to relax and talk to someone. I bought him a drink, but I refused one myself, remembering what had happened to me the times before, when I had listened to Captain Hannah with a glass in my hand.

Captain Hannah ran a leathery hand over his leathery face. He looked haggard. "I came here because I've got to talk to somebody," he said, "and you make a good listener.

"Do you remember after I completed my contract with you for the delivery of the gasha root, and after you had talked me into leaving Beulah with you for the sake of the little one, how we had a few drinks together to celebrate our mutual success, before I headed out?"

Well, my memory about who had talked whom into what about Beulah didn't agree with his, but I. . . Read More