"I'm sorry, Biggs," he said frankly. "I was completely wrong. I might have known that the man who could win my daughter wouldn't be the kind to fold up in a tight spot. But I--I--" He choked up. Biggs said, "That's all right, Skipper. I had to do it that way. It's the only way I could get him off guard." Which was my cue. I said, "Yeah, come clean, pal. Would you mind giving it the once-over-lightly for my benefit? Maybe I'm slow on the draw, but it's all still a deep, dark mystery to me. You hypnotized Thaxton, made him tell his superior we were as clean as a whale's ears. But how? And when did you figure out--" "It was simple," explained Biggs, "once I got the clue. Back in the twentieth century, when the science of extra-sensory perception was in its infancy, they discovered among other things that the best natural 'espers' are hyperthyroids. "Thaxton was a hyper-thyroid. The bulging brow, the pop-eyes, the nervousness--all these indicated that. And I remembered, too, the curious fact discovered by an early experimenter in telepathy that the 'esper', while working at his trade, is wide open to hypnosis. "Being in a receptive frame of mind, it is only natural that an accomplished hypnotist--" "So you're that, too," I said, "among other things!" "I understand the rudiments of the art," Biggs grinned. "Once I got him under control, it was easy to implant the belief that he had been through the entire ship, found nothing amiss. He will never know otherwise. I expunged the memory of the entire interlude from his brain." I said thoughtfully, "Which isn't a bad idea, if you ask me. Say, Biggs, can you do that to everyone? I've owed Enderby five credits for the past month. If you can help me forget it, it won't worry me nearly so much." "Or," said the skipper caustically, "make Enderby forget it. On account of he ain't never gonna be paid nohow. Well, Mr. Biggs, let's you an' me get back to work." "Wait!" I pleaded. "One more thing. Why did you keep muttering names to yourself, Biggs? And why did you holler, 'That's it!' when Enderby mentioned the rain?" * * * * * "He said 'ryne'," Biggs told me, "not 'rain'. That was the word I'd been seeking. I knew it was the name of a river--but I couldn't think which one. Now, Prof. J. B. Rhine was the pioneer in the study of extra-sensory perception. I knew if I could just remember his name, I could think of a way to defeat Thaxton." "But why the hell," I hollered, "did you have to think of Rhine's name? You knew all the other stuff. Your 'Get the theory first' didn't apply that time--because you already knew the theory. You just wasted time and nearly made the Cap and me nervous wrecks!" The skipper said, "Now, Sparks, don't talk that way to Mr. Biggs--Come along, son." But there was a look of utter dismay on my lanky pal's face. His Adam's apple dropped so far that he had indigestion for two days afterward. And he gasped,