Larsoe smashed his fist down on the table, spilling his drink.
"Don't talk to me about that blasted bonanza!" he roared. "You know what it was? It was just plain rock with a film of rich gold ore over it. A fake! A flop! I just got enough out of it to pay expenses and that's all."
"Too bad," Timkin grinned, feeling his cup running over.
"Oh, don't go gloating," said Larsoe. "I still put one over on you. I took the thing away from you, didn't I?"
"Sure," agreed Timkin. "But you gave me something back which was worth—"
At this moment, Larsoe sat up, as something came over the tavern radio, working through the hum. An announcer was saying....
"—biggest news of the day! The Saturn Museum has just announced the find of a carved stone, from the rings, which will allow them to translate all the hitherto unknown writings of the first moon! And in honor of the man who brought it back from the rings, they have named it—the Timkin Stone!"
Timkin was shocked himself. His name would reverberate down through the ages now, attached to a stone as famed as the Rosetta Stone of earth!
But the effect on Huck Larsoe was like that of a knife in his heart. He turned slow, stunned eyes to his companion.
"Th-the Timkin Stone?" he mumbled. "What—"