"It's just like pulling teeth," Bowen chuckled, "without an anesthetic!"
"Oh, no!" Thurwinker groaned. "What have I done!" He paced the floor
again and stopped suddenly. "Still, we've got some land to work with.
Yes, maybe it'll be all right after all."
But it wasn't all right. The engineers informed Thurwinker that they
had to have more shafts. "You just can't drill through iridium!" they
complained.
Thurwinker shrugged his shoulders and resolutely set off to find
Goma, but Goma had disappeared and none of the natives knew where he
had gone. It was useless to try to bargain with them. Because of his
haircut, Goma was absolute Chief now. Thurwinker came back to the
crater after fruitlessly searching the surrounding country for six
days. He opened the door of his hut and plunked himself resignedly down
at his desk.
At that moment there came a thump on the door. Thurwinker arose and
opened it. There stood Goma looking more down in the mouth than the
last time he had visited Thurwinker. Thurwinker stuffed the resignation
into his pocket and guided Goma into the hut. "I am glad to see you,
Goma!" Thurwinker exploded. "Yes indeed, very glad."
Goma didn't understand the words, but he knew from the expression on
Thurwinker's face that he was welcome.
"I want to see you," Thurwinker began in Goma's tongue. "I want more
land."