places in line, carry on. Let them do as well as their dad
had done, making head of the line at under forty-five!
Inside the queuebana it was hot, airless. Hestler pulled
off his coat and squatted in 'the crouch-hammocknot the
most comfortable position in the world, maybe, but in full
compliance with the Q-law requirement that at least one
foot be on the ground at all times, and the head higher
than the waist. Hestler remembered an incident years be-
fore, when some poor devil without a queuebana had
gone to sleep standing up. He'd stood with his eyes closed
and 'his knees bent, and slowly sunk down to a squat; then
bobbed slowly up and blinked and gone back to sleep.
Up and down, they'd watched him for an hour before he
finally let his head drop lower than his belt. They'd
pitched him oat of line then, and closed ranks. Ah, there'd
been some wild times in the queue in the old days, not
like now. There was too much at stake now, this near the
head. No time for horseplay.
Just before dusk, the line moved up. Three to go! Hest-
ler's heart thumped.
It was dark when he heard the voice whisper: "Four
Up!"
Hestler jerked wide awake. He biinked, wondering if
he'd dreamed the urgent tone.
"Four Up!" the voice hissed again. Hestler twitched the
curtain open, saw nothing, pulled his head back in. Theif
he saw the pale, pinched face, the bulging eyes of Four
Back, peering through the vent slot at the rear of the
tent.
"You have to help me," the little man said. "You saw
what happened; you can make a deposition that I was.
cheated, that"
"Look here, what are you doing out of line?" Hestler
cut in. "I know you're on-shift, why aren't you holding
down a new slot?"
"I . . . I couldn't face it," Four Back said brokenly.
"My wife, my childrenthey're all counting on me."
"You should have thought of that sooner."
"I swear I couldn't help it. It just hit me so suddenly.
And"
"You lost your place. There's nothing I can do."
"If I have' to start over nowI'll be seventy when I get
to the window!"
"That's not my lockout"
". . . but if you'll just tell the line police what happened,
explain about my special case"
"You're crazy, I can't do that!"
"But you . . . I always thought you looked like a decent
sort"
"You'd better go. Suppose someone sees me talking to
