A party of Zade men left a drinking place just ahead of him. They were quarreling--without any particular rancor--and one of them was loudly keening a verse of hunting song. At their forefront strode a burly Zade with a bush of red-orange hair. "The big one is the crewman I mentioned," Srtes pointed out. The burly Zade spied the alien and a pleased burst of laughter rumbled up from his chest. "Our unwinged friend from Earth!" he shouted. It was a deadly insult. As the alien stopped uncertainly, Ctvar and his friends crowded around him. "Are all Earthlings wingless freaks?" one of them asked in a loud voice. The others laughed. I expected the alien to show some fight, but he only stood silently. The party of Zades showed their contempt by increasing the tempo of their insults. Still the Earthling did nothing. Finally Ctvar became disgusted with the other's spinelessness and spat in his face, at the same time reaching out to grab him. I heard several gasps from those around me as the alien moved. His actions the next moment were almost too swift for us to follow. He spread his legs slightly, as Ctvar reached for him, and swung his right fist. An instant later Ctvar lay on the ground. One leg made a continuous kicking motion, but it was only a reflex action. Ctvar had been knocked unconscious! The shouting of the other Zades quieted to an ugly murmur, and they surged forward. The Earthling set his back against the building behind him and struck out at his attackers, but they overwhelmed him by sheer numbers and dragged him to the ground. They beat him and stamped several times on his body before a squad of sentinels appeared and broke them up. "A fine start," Srtes said. "Unless he is already dead." "I don't believe he is," Srtes answered. "But if he is no more hardy than that, there will be no necessity for us to learn more." * * * * * The Earthling proved to be much hardier. And more stubborn. The sentinels, of course, gave him no further help. They would not have stopped the fight, except that they had orders from Srtes to save our visitor from any disabling injury, if at all possible. The Earthling lay on the ground for only a short while before he pulled himself to a sitting position. His face was bruised, blood ran from his nose, and one eye was swollen and closed. With the other he followed the progress of Ctvar and his party as they went on to the next drinking place. When he climbed to his feet his left leg buckled but he limped about on it for a few minutes until he could walk. He strode purposefully toward the drinking place Ctvar's party had entered, and pushed his way inside. Someone behind me muttered angrily. There was no pick-up in the drinking place and we could only watch the exterior of the building.