But the boy was beyond reasoning. Terror stricken, he screamed at the top of his voice, using all his little strength to escape. "If you p-promise to l-listen to me, I'll let you go," Hall said. "I promise," the boy sobbed, still struggling. But the moment Hall let go of his coat, he tore away and ran as fast as he could over the adjacent field. "W-wait--don't run away," Hall shouted. "I won't hurt you. Stay where you are. I couldn't follow you anyway. I'd sink to my hips." The logic of the last sentence appealed to the frightened lad. He hesitated and then stopped and turned around, a hundred feet or so from the highway. "L-listen," said Hall earnestly. "The teledepths are wr-wrong. They d-didn't tell you the t-truth about us. I d-don't want to hurt anyone. All I n-need is a few hours. D-don't tell anyone for j-just a few hours and it'll be all right." He paused because he didn't know what to say next. The boy, now that he seemed secure from danger had recovered his wits. He plucked a blade of grass from the ground and chewed on an end of it, looking for all the world like a grownup farmer thoughtfully considering his fields. "Well, I guess you could have hurt me plenty, but you didn't," he said. "That's something." "Just a few hours," Hall said. "It won't take long. Y-you can tell your father tonight." The boy suddenly remembered his raspberries when he saw his basket and its spilled contents on the highway. "Why don't you go along a bit," he said. "I would like to pick up those berries I dropped." "Remember," Hall said, "just a few hours." He turned and started walking again toward Red Mountain. Inside his mind, the seventeen asked anxiously, "Do you think he'll give the alarm? Will he report your presence?" [Illustration] Back on the highway, the boy was gathering the berries back into his basket while he tried to make his mind up. * * * * * Jordan reached Earth atmosphere about two o'clock in the afternoon. He immediately reported in to the Terrestrial police force, and via the teledepth screen spoke with a bored lieutenant. The lieutenant, after listening to Jordan's account of his mission, assured him without any particular enthusiasm of the willingness of the Terrestrial forces to cooeperate, and of more value, gave him the location of all licensed sources of radiation in the western hemisphere. The galactic agent set eagerly to work, and in the next several hours uncovered two unlisted radiation sources, both of which he promptly investigated. In one case, north of Eugene, he found in the backyard of a metal die company a small atomic pile. The owner was using it as an illegal generator of electricity, and when he saw Jordan snooping about with his detection instruments, he immediately offered the agent a sizable bribe. It was a grave mistake since Jordan filed charges against him, via teledepth, not only for evading taxes, but also for attempted bribery.