"It's an herb of the mint family from Terra," he replied. "Mura grows it for Sinbad--has quite a marked influence on cats. Frank's been trying to keep him anchored to the ship by allowing him to roll in fresh leaves. He does it--then continues to sneak out whenever he can--" That explained something for Dane--why the Salariki cub wished to enter the Queen tonight. Some of the scent of the plant had clung to Sinbad's fur, had been detected, and the Salarik had wanted to trace it to its source. "Is it a drug?" Van Rycke prodded. "In the way that all herbs are drugs. Human beings have dosed themselves in the past with a tea made of the dried leaves. It has no great medicinal properties. To felines it is a stimulation--and they get the same satisfaction from rolling in and eating the leaves as we do from drinking--" "The Salariki are, in a manner of speaking, felines--" Van Rycke mused. Tau straightened. "The Salariki have discovered catnip, I take it?" Van Rycke nodded at Dane and for the second time the Cargo-master apprentice made his report. When he was done Van Rycke asked a direct question of the medical officer: "What effect would catnip have on a Salarik?" It was only then that Dane grasped the enormity of what he had done. They had no way of gauging the influence of an off-world plant on alien metabolism. What if he had introduced to the natives of Sargol a dangerous drug--started that cub on some path of addiction. He was cold inside. Why, he might even have poisoned the child! Tau picked up his cap, and after a second's hesitation, his emergency medical kit. He had only one question for Dane. "Any idea of who the cub is--what clan he belongs to?" And Dane, chill with real fear, was forced to answer in the negative. What _had_ he done! "Can you find him?" Van Rycke, ignoring Dane, spoke to Tau. The Medic shrugged. "I can try. I was out scouting this morning--met one of the storm priests who handles their medical work. But I wasn't welcomed. However, under the circumstances, we have to try something--" In the corridor Van Rycke had an order for Dane. "I suggest that you keep to quarters, Thorson, until we know how matters stand."