ceased to frustrate him.

"It's an herb of the mint family from Terra," he replied. "Mura grows it
for Sinbad--has quite a marked influence on cats. Frank's been trying to
keep him anchored to the ship by allowing him to roll in fresh leaves. He
does it--then continues to sneak out whenever he can--"

That explained something for Dane--why the Salariki cub wished to enter
the Queen tonight. Some of the scent of the plant had clung to Sinbad's
fur, had been detected, and the Salarik had wanted to trace it to its
source.

"Is it a drug?" Van Rycke prodded.

"In the way that all herbs are drugs. Human beings have dosed themselves
in the past with a tea made of the dried leaves. It has no great
medicinal properties. To felines it is a stimulation--and they get the
same satisfaction from rolling in and eating the leaves as we do from
drinking--"

"The Salariki are, in a manner of speaking, felines--" Van Rycke mused.

Tau straightened. "The Salariki have discovered catnip, I take it?"

Van Rycke nodded at Dane and for the second time the Cargo-master
apprentice made his report. When he was done Van Rycke asked a direct
question of the medical officer:

"What effect would catnip have on a Salarik?"