"Worse," said Jeffers complacently, meanwhile refilling Mike"s gla.s.s.

"While we were on active service together, I"ve seen you go through all kinds of things and never look like this. What is it? Reaction from this afternoon"s--or, pardon me--_yesterday_ afternoon"s emergency?"

Mike glanced up at the chronometer. It was two-thirty in the morning, Greenwich time. Jeffers held the bridge from midnight till noon, while Black Bart had the noon to midnight shift.

Still, Mike hadn"t realized that it was as late as all that.

He looked at Jeffers" lean, bony face. "Reaction? No, it"s not that.

Look, Pete, you know me. Would you say I was a pretty levelheaded guy?"

"Sure."

"My old man always said, "Never make an enemy accidentally," and I think he was right. So I usually think over what I say before I open my big mouth, don"t I?"

Again Jeffers said, "Sure."

"I wouldn"t call myself over-cautious," Mike persisted, "but I usually think a thing through pretty carefully before I act--that is, if I have time. Right?"

"I"d say so," Jeffers admitted. "I"d say you were about the only guy I know who does the right thing more than 90 per cent of the time. And says the right thing more than 99 per cent of the time. So what do you want? Back-patting, or just hero worship?"

Mike took a small taste of the brandy. "Neither, you jerk. But about eight hours ago I said something that I hadn"t planned to say. I practically proposed to Leda Crannon without knowing I was going to."

Peter Jeffers didn"t laugh. He simply said, "How"d it happen?"

Mike told him.

When Mike had finished, one drink later, Peter Jeffers filled the gla.s.ses for the third time and leaned back in his chair. "Tell me one thing, ol" buddy, and think about it before you answer. If you had a chance to get out of it gracefully, would you take back what you said?"

Mike the Angel thought it over. The sweep hand on the chronometer made its rounds several times before he answered. Then, at last, he said: "No. No, I wouldn"t."

Jeffers pursed his lips, then said judicially: "In that case, you"re not doing badly at all. There"s nothing wrong with you except the fact that you"re in love."

Mike downed the third drink fast and stood up. "Thanks, Pete," he said.

"That"s what I was afraid of."

"Wait just one stinkin" minute," said Jeffers firmly. "Sit down."

Mike sat.

"What do you intend to do about it?" Jeffers asked.

Mike the Angel grinned at him. "What the h.e.l.l else can I do but woo and win the wench?"

Jeffers grinned back at him. "I reckon you know you got compet.i.tion, huh?"

"You mean Jake von Liegnitz?" Mike"s face darkened. "I have the feeling he"s looking for something that doesn"t include a marriage certificate."

"Love sure makes a man sound n.o.ble," said Jeffers philosophically. "If you mean that all he wants is to get Leda into the sack, you"re prob"ly right. Normal reaction, I"d say. Can"t blame Jake for that."

"I don"t," said Mike. "But that doesn"t mean I can"t spike his guns."

"Course not. Again, a normal reaction."

"What about Lew Mellon?" Mike asked.

"Lew?" Jeffers raised his eyebrows. "I dunno. I think he likes to talk to her, is all. But if he _is_ interested, he"s b.l.o.o.d.y well serious.

He"s a strict Anglo-Catholic, like yourself."

_I"m not as strict as I ought to be_, Mike thought. "I thought he had a rather monkish air about him," he said aloud.

Jeffers chuckled. "Yeah, but I don"t think he"s so ascetic that he wouldn"t marry." His grin broadened. "Now, if we were still at ol"

Chilblains, you"d _really_ have compet.i.tion. After all, you can"t expect that a gal who"s stacked ... pardon me ... who has the magnificent physical and physiognomical topography of Leda Crannon to spend her life bein" ignored, now can you?"

"Nope," said Mike the Angel.

"Now, I figger," Jeffers said, "that you can purty much forget about Lew Mellon. But Jakob von Liegnitz is a chromatically variant equine, indeed."

Mike shook his head vigorously, as if to clear away the fog. "_Pfui!_ Let"s change the subject. My heretofore nimble mind has been coagulated by a pair of innocent blue eyes. I need my skull stirred up."

"I have a limerick," said Jeffers lightly. "It"s about a young s.p.a.ceman named Mike, who said: "I can do as I like!" And to prove his bright quip, he took a round trip, clear to Sirius B on a bike. Or, the tale of the pirate, Black Bart, whose head was as hard as his heart. When he found--"

"Enough!" Mike the Angel held up a hand. "That distillate of fine old grape has made us both silly. Good night. I"m going to get some sleep."

He stood up and winked at Jeffers. "And thanks for listening while I bent your ear."

"Any time at all, ol" amoeba. And if you ever feel you need some advice from an ol" married man, why you just trot right round, and I"ll give you plenty of bad advice."

"At least you"re honest," Mike said. "Night."

Mike the Angel left the bridge as Commander Jeffers was putting the brandy back in its hiding place.

Mike went to his quarters, hit the sack, and spent less than five minutes getting to sleep. There was nothing worrying him now.

He didn"t know how long he"d been asleep when he heard a noise in the darkness of his room that made him sit up in bed, instantly awake. The floater under him churned a little, but there was no noise. The room was silent.

In the utter blackness of the room, Mike the Angel could see nothing, and he could hear nothing but the all-pervading hum of the ship"s engines. But he could still feel and smell.

He searched back in his memory, trying to place the sound that had awakened him. It hadn"t been loud, merely unusual. It had been a noise that shouldn"t have been made in the stateroom. It had been a quiet sound, really, but for the life of him, Mike couldn"t remember what it had sounded like.

But the evidence of his nerves told him there was someone else in the room besides himself. Somewhere near him, something was radiating heat; it was definitely perceptible in the air-conditioned coolness of his room. And, too, there was the definite smell of warm oil--machine oil.

It was faint, but it was unmistakable.

And then he knew what the noise had been.

The soft purr of caterpillar treads against the floor!

Casually, Mike the Angel moved his hand to the wall plaque and touched it lightly. The lights came on, dim and subdued.

"h.e.l.lo, Snook.u.ms," said Mike the Angel gently. "What are you here for?"