he added.

Sirzob and Yirzol held a hasty whispered conference.

"Speaking both for Honorable Yirzol and for myself," Sirzob announced,
"we stipulate that the distance shall be twenty meters, that the
pistols shall be fully loaded, and that fire shall be at will after
the command."

"Twenty rounds, fire at will, at twenty meters!" Olirzon hooted. "You
must think our principal's as bad a shot as you are!"

The four Assassins stepped aside and held a long discussion about
something, with considerable argument and gesticulation. Klarnood,
observing Verkan Vall's impatience, leaned close to him and whispered:

"This is highly irregular; we must pretend ignorance and be patient.
They're laying bets on the outcome. You must do your best, Lord
Virzal; you don't want your supporters to lose money."

He said it quite seriously, as though the outcome were otherwise a
matter of indifference to Verkan Vall.

Marnark wanted to discuss time and place, and proposed that all three
duels be fought at dawn, on the fourth landing stage of Darsh Central
Hospital; that was closest to the maternity wards, and statistics
showed that most births occurred just before that hour.

"Certainly not," Verkan Vall vetoed. "We'll fight here and now; I
don't propose going a couple of hundred miles to meet you at any such