"I grow up on pranetoid," Genius explained. "On big pranet, too much pressure for me." The two salesmen looked narrowly at each other. "Did Johnson know that when he sold you?" Joe snarled. "Oh, sure." The silly grin became wider than ever. "Peopre from Earth buy me rots of times. I never reave pranetoid, though." "Joseph," Harvey said ominously, "that slick colonist has put one over upon us. What is our customary procedure in that event?" "We tear him apart," Joe replied between his teeth. "Not Mister Johnson," advised Genius. "Have gun and badge. He shoot you first and then rock you up in prison." Harvey paused, his ominous air vanishing. "True. There is also the fact, Joseph, that when he discovers the scrambled rectifier in the radio we sold him, he will have been paid back in full for his regrettable dishonesty." * * * * * Unwillingly, Joe agreed. While Genius retreated to a safe distance, they entered the ship and blasted off. Within a few minutes the automatic steering pilot had maneuvered them above the plane of the asteroid belt. "I got kind of dizzy," Joe said, "there were so many deals back and forth. How much did we make on the sucker?" "A goodly amount, I wager," Harvey responded. He took out a pencil and paper. "Medicine, 469.50; radio, 1,000; batteries, 199. Total--let's see--1668 buckos and 50 redsents. A goodly sum, as I told you." He emptied his pockets of money, spread it out on the astrogation table and began counting. Finished, he looked up, troubled. "How much did we have when we landed, Joseph?" "Exactly 1668 buckos," Joe answered promptly. "I can't understand it," said Harvey. "Instead of double our capital, we now have only 1668 buckos and 50 redsents!" Feverishly, he returned to his pencil and paper. "Drinking water, 790; battery water, free; meal, 328; planetoid man, 550. Total: 1668 buckos!" He stared at the figures. "We paid out almost as much as we took in," he said bitterly. "Despite our intensive efforts, we made the absurd sum of fifty redsents." "Why, the dirty crook!" Joe growled. But after a few moments of sad reflection, Harvey became philosophical. "Perhaps, Joseph, we are more fortunate than we realize. We were, after all, completely in Johnson's power. The more I ponder, the more I believe we were lucky to escape. And, anyhow, we did make fifty redsents on the swindler. A moral victory, my boy." Joe, who had been sunk desparingly into a chair, now stood up slowly and asked: "Remember that bottle-opener we gave him?" "Certainly," Harvey explained. "What about it?" "How much did it cost us?" Harvey's eyebrows puckered. Suddenly he started laughing. "You're right, Joseph. We paid forty-six redsents for it on Venus. So, after all that transacting of business, we made four redsents!" "Four redsents, hell!" Joe snapped. "That was the sales tax!"