"I thought so. Most of you guys would stay out there forever if you didn't have to come back for supplies."
St. Simon shook his head. "Nope. Not true. A man's got to come back every so often and get his feet on the ground. If you stay out there too long, you get to talking to yourself."
An hour later, the spaceboat Nancy Bell lifted from the surface of Pallas and shot toward Vesta.
"Jules, old cobblestone, we have just saved civilization."
"Jawohl, Herr Hassenpfefferesser! Und now ve go to find das Mädchen, nicht war?"
"Herr Professor Hassenpfefferesser to you, my boy."
And then, all alone in his spaceboat, Captain Jules St. Simon burst into song:
"Oh, I'm the cook and the captain, too,
And the men of the Nancy's brig;
The bosun tight, and the midshipmite,
And the crew of the captain's gig!"
And the Nancy Bell sped on toward Vesta and a rendevous with Eros.