The Deveel tore loose from my grip and vanished into

the crowds, sounding an incoherent scream of terror as

he went. In short, Aliman left. Right?

I watched him go with a certain amount of mischie-

vous satisfaction. I wasn't really angry, mind you. We

literally had more money than we could use right now,

so I didn't begrudge him the customers. Still, I had

never really paused to consider how formidable our

4 Robert Asprin

operation must look from the outside. Viewing it now

through a stranger's eyes, I found myself more than a

little pleased. Considering the dubious nature of my

beginning, we had built ourselves quite a reputation

over the last few years.

I had been serious when I told Aliman that I didn't

have much faith in magicians. My own reputation was

overrated to say the least, and if I was being billed as a

powerful magician, it made the others of my profession

more than a little suspect in my eyes. After several years

of seeing the inside of the magic business, I was starting

to wonder if any magician was really as good as people

thought.

I was so wrapped up in these thoughts as I entered our

humble tent that I had completely forgotten that I was

suppoised to be sneaking in. I was reminded almost im-

mediately.

The reminder came in the form of a huge man who

loomed up to block my path. "Boss," he said in a

squeaky little voice that was always surprising coming

from such a huge body, "you shouldn't ought to go out

alone like that. How many times we got to tell you...."

"It's all right, Nunzio," I said, trying to edge around

him. "I just ducked out to get some breakfast. Want a