Brander's find, laid tenderly upon the deck, studied by Noll Wing and the officers on their knees, set the Sally buzzing with the clack of tongues.
There was a romance in the stuff itself that caught attention. It came from the rotting carcass of the greatest thing that lives; it came from the heart of a vast stench.... Yet itself smelled faintly and fragrantly of musk, and had the power of multiplying any other perfume a thousand fold. Not a man on the Sally had ever seen a bit larger than a cartridge, before; they studied it, handled it, marveled at it.
Cap'n Wing stood up stiffly from bending over the stuff at last; he looked at Brander. "It's ugly enough," he said. "You're sure it's the stuff you think?"
Brander nodded. "Yes, sir, quite sure."
"What's it worth?" Cap'n Wing asked.
"Hundred and fifty to three hundred dollars a pound—price changes."
Noll looked at the waxy stuff again. "It don't look it," he said. "How much is there of it?"
"Close to three hundred pounds...."
Noll's lips moved with the computation. He said, in a voice that was hushed in spite of himself: "Close to ninety thousand dollars...."