Rick stared at the scientist. "I noticed," he said. "I wondered about it, too."
"But you don't know the reason!" Zircon pointed at Chahda, who grinned weakly from his bunk. "There's the cause of it all. He routed the enemy with minimum help from us, even after he was wounded."
Rick turned to stare at Chahda. "What's he talking about?"
The Hindu boy shook his head. "I was sleepy, and I afraid maybe fall asleep, which big disgrace. So what I do? I fix things to hurt pirates, but also I hurt Professor Zircon, for which I plenty sorry."
"But how?" Rick demanded.
"Oh, I remembered that in Jolo I never see Moros wear shoes. Not very many, anyway."
Zircon had mentioned shoes, too. Rick groaned with impatience. "What have shoes to do with it?"
Chahda grinned. "I borrow the professor's cannon ammunition. All around edge of deck I sprinkled, so when pirates come, they dance, and soon they have plenty."
Rick got it then. He sat down and laughed until Scotty had to stick his head in to see what was going on.
Rick pointed at Chahda. "The Hindu wizard!" he roared. "You know what he did? He sprinkled the deck with tacks! No wonder the pirates danced!"