"A very understandable error, sir. Harkaway explained it to me. It seems the word for water, _m'koog_, is very similar to the word for wine, _mk'oog_. Harkaway himself admits his pronunciation isn't perfect and--" "All right," Iversen interrupted. "What I'd like to know is what happened to the _mk'oog_, then--" "The m'koog, you mean? It's in the tanks." "--because, when they came to drain the wine out of the tanks to put the water in, the tanks were already totally empty." "I have no idea," the first officer said frostily, "no idea at all. If you'll glance at my papers, you'll note I'm Temperance by affiliation, but if you'd like to search my cabin, anyway, I--" "By Miaplacidus, man," Iversen exclaimed, "I wasn't accusing you! Of that, anyway!" Everybody on the vessel was so confoundedly touchy. Lucky they had a stable commanding officer like himself, or morale would simply go to pot. * * * * * "Well, it's all over," Harkaway said, joining them up at the airlock in one lithe bound--a mean feat in that light gravity. "And a right good speech, if I do say so myself. The Flimflim says he will count the thlubbzik with ardent expectation until the mission from Earth arrives with the promised gifts." "Just what gifts did you take it upon yourself to--" Iversen began, when he was interrupted by a voice behind them crying, "Woe, woe, woe!" And, thrusting himself past the three other officers, Dr. Smullyan addressed the flim'puu, or farewell committee, assembled outside the ship. "Do not let the Earthmen return to your fair planet, O happily ignorant Flimbotzik," he declaimed, "lest wretchedness and misery be your lot as a result. Tell them, 'Hence!' Tell them, 'Begone!' Tell them, 'Avaunt!' For, know ye, humanity is a blight, a creeping canker--" He was interrupted by the captain's broad palm clamping down over his mouth. "Clap him in the brig, somebody, until we get clear of this place," Iversen ordered wearily. "If Harkaway could pick up the Flimbotzi language, the odds are that some of the natives have picked up Terran." "That's right, always keep belittling me," Harkaway said sulkily as two of the crewmen carried off the struggling medical officer, who left an aromatic wake behind him that bore pungent testimonial to where a part, at least, of the _mk'oog_ had gone. "No wonder it took me so long to find myself." "Oh, have you found yourself at last?" Iversen purred. "Splendid! Now that you know where you are, supposing you do me a big favor and go lose yourself again while we make ready for blastoff." "For shame," said the first officer as Harkaway stamped off. "For shame!" "The captain's a hard man," observed the chief petty officer, who was lounging negligently against a wall, doing nothing. "Ay, that he is," agreed the crewman who was assisting him. "That he is--a hard man, indeed."