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."
"What? How, Father? What ship?"
"All ships. He was elected at a Gathering. Son, a long time ago a shameful thing happened. Baslim corrected it. It put all the People in debt to him. I have said enough. Tell me, have you thought of getting married?"
Marriage was the last thing on Thorby's mind; he was blazing anxious to hear more about what Pop had done that had made him incredibly one of the People. But he recognized the warning with which an elder closed a taboo subject.
"Why, no. Father."
"Your Grandmother thinks that you have begun to notice girls seriously."
"Well, sir. Grandmother is never wrong . . . but I hadn't been aware of it."
"A man isn't complete without a wife. But I don't think you're old enough. Laugh with all the girls and cry with none -- and remember our customs." Krausa was thinking that he was bound by Baslim's injunction to seek aid of the Hegemony in finding where the lad had come from. It would be awkward if Thorby married before the opportunity arose. Yet the boy had grown taller in the months he had been in Sisu. Adding to Krausa's fret was an uneasy feeling that his half-conceived notion of finding (or faking) an ancestry for Thorby conflicted with his unbreakable obligations to Baslim.
Then he had a cheerful idea. "Tell you what. Son! It's possible that the girl for you isn't aboard. After all, there are only a few in port side purdah -- and picking a wife is a serious matter
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