"Oh, come now, old chap, come now. Tut-tut!" The officer adjusted his monocle. "It isn't all that bad. Really it isn't, don't y'know. After all, even if nothing is done officially, word will get around. People will come in jolly old floods to see that place where all this happened. I'll wager my own missus makes me vacation here this season. Cloak and dagger stuff, excitin', all that sort of piffle, eh, what, what? Why, it'll be the busiest tourist season in your history, by Jove."
"Hmmmm." Sarmishkidu stroked his nose thoughtfully. A gleam waxed in one bulging eye. "Hmmm. Yes. The atmosphere of international intrigue; sinister spies, double agents, beautiful females luring away secret papers. Yes, the first place on Grendel to furnish that kind of atmosphere will—Hmmm. I must make some alterations, I see. To hell with Gemutlichkeit. I want my tavern to have an uncertain reputation. Yes, that's it, uncertain." He drew himself up and flourished a dramatic tentacle. "Gentlemen, you are now looking upon the proprietor of der Alt Heisenberg Rathskeller!"
ISBN 0 600 37609 5
Copyright© 1962 by Ace Books, Inc. Magazine serial version, copyright, 1958 by Street and Smith Publications Inc. Harnlyn Paperbacks are published by The Harnlyn Publishing Group Ltd, Astronaut House, Feltharn, Middlesex, England. Made and printed in Great Britain by Hazell Watson Viney Ltd, Aylesbury, Bucks.