"Tell!" I commanded and all present at the table nodded in agreement.
"I'll tell. The circus was in town."
"James-you are not playing games with us." There was a cold tone in
Angelina's voice.
"Never, my dear mother. This is the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but
the truth."
"The same circus each time?" I asked.
"No. I thought that at first myself. There were a number of different
circuses involved."
"But they had something in common?" I asked.
"The knife of your cold logic cuts deep, Dad. It appears that all of them
employed, on the day of the robbery, the same circus act."
The room was so silent as we listened that you could have heard a syllable
dropped.
"Present on the planet at each theft was a man, an individual by the name of
Puissanto, billed as the Strongest Man in the Galaxy."
"Do you know where he is now?"
"No. He is resting. But I do know where he will be in about a month's time.
He will be heading the bill when Bolshoi's Big Top comes to town."
"And where is town?"
"On a distant planet I have never heard of, out in the wrong part of the
galaxy, with the unattractive name of Fetorr. The city has the equally
unattractive name of Fetorrscoria."
"Our next stop," I said, climbing to my feet and leaving the cigar to die in
the ashtray. "Start packing."
"Brilliant," Angelina said, the scorn in her voice signifying the direct
opposite.
"Of course," I said, sitting back down. "What would we do when we got there?
Well, I know what we have to do. We all have to settle down quietly while I
put Plan A into effect."
"Which is?" Angelina asked, now as confused as the rest.
