The Thagwar's eyes darkened, and he pawed the ground fretfully. "That is a mistake, Earthman! You gave me nothing!" "Wha-a-at! A whole darn caseful of--" "You gave me," repeated the Thagwar with increasing ominousness, "nothing! You offered a few baubles to the _old_ Thagwar, possibly--" Cap Hanson groaned and turned agonized eyes to his son-in-law. "Ain't that something, now! Another revolution! Now we got to pay off twice!" Lanse nodded soberly. "I suspected something like that. Yes, I'm afraid we must, Dad. Tomkins ... Splicer...." * * * * * He called to two of the crew. So we had to do it again. Go through the same old rigmarole. I'll spare you the details this time, since they were the same as before. We donated, the Thagwar accepted, then we started talking peace-terms. The pact was presented, the Thagwar studied it and this time--fortunately--succeeded in stamping it with his official O.Q. before Themis' invisible moon brought night again. So at last our job was accomplished. As we entered the ship, Cap Hanson was jubilant. "Thank goodness _that's_ done!" he sighed happily. "And now--back to Earth! And Diane--" Biggs' Adam's-apple bobbled convulsively in his lean throat. "I--er--I think we'd better wait just a little while longer, Dad," he said mildly. "Wait? What for? We got the peace pact signed." "I know. But don't forget, that's only the eighth in a long series of such 'peace pacts.' We'd better stick around a little while and see if they live up to it." "Stick around a while! How long?" Lanse glanced through the quartzite viewpanes and said, "Not long. Because--see? It's night again." "Night! What's night got to do with it?" "That," said Lanse seriously, "is just what _I_ want to know. If I could only get the theory straight in my mind I might have the answer. Sparks--" He turned to me--"turn on the telaudio. Let's see if we can't get some word--" So I did, but there was nothing cooking. The circuit was as cold as a divorcee's kiss. And that was bad, because Biggs was growing nervouser and nervouser by the minute. He wanted to get back to Earth so bad he could taste it. But that's Biggs for you. Thorough and painstaking if he undertakes a thing. And he wasn't going to leave Themis until he knew this situation was completely cleared up. But at last the darkness outside began to lift, and Cap Hanson fidgeted. "Well, here's what you were waitin' for, boy. Now what?" "Now," said Biggs, "we see what happens. Are they coming back from their city?" They were. The Themisites were galloping across the plains toward the _Saturn_ again. They were the romping, roamingest bunch of mavericks I ever saw. "Yup!" I said. "And--and their attitude?" "Friendly, of course!" snorted the skipper. "Why shouldn't they be? Didn't we just sign a peace treaty with them? Lanse, I don't know what's ailin' you! You--"