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“Then I went back to the cargo compartment and hauled Beulah into the center. She didn’t make any more trouble—she was sorry for what she had done.

“The coordinates the Prinkip had given me looked almighty close to a big pond that I didn’t recall having seen before, but I was too busy making a landing with minimum fuel to ask him about it. I finally fought her down safely with one leg of my tripod actually in the pond, and clouds of steam rising up around Delta Crucis. I call it a pond. But on a normal-size planet it would be a good big lake.

“Anyway, I had made it safely to Penguin, and my elephant was alive and healthy. I congratulated Beulah when I untied her, and then I took her outside to meet the Prinkip. I think I was a little proud of myself, and of Beulah, and of Delta Crucis, too.”

I was so stirred by hearing about this successful conclusion of Captain Hannah’s mission that I shook his hand warmly and ordered a round of drinks for everyone in the room. Fortunately, it was not very crowded at the time.