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Benjamin Lax - Interviews on
a Life in Physics at MIT
Benjamin Lax - Interviews on
a Life in Physics at MIT
Understanding and Exploiting the
Effects of Magnetic Fields on Matter

Donald T. Stevenson (Interviewer)

Marion B. Reine (Editor)
Roshan L. Aggarwal (Editor)
eResources: The link to download the eResources that accompany the book is:
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We dedicate this book to our wives:
Marjory Stevenson, Kathleen Reine,
and Pushap Lata Aggarwal
Contents

Summary of the Life and Career of Prof. Benjamin Lax ix

Acronyms and Abbreviations xiv

Introduction 1

1 Early Years in Miskolc, Hungary, 1915–​1926 3

2 School Days in Brooklyn, 1926–​1936 17

3 C
 ollege Days—Brooklyn College and
Cooper Union, 1936–​1942 41

4 A
 rmy Days and the MIT Radiation Laboratory,
1942–​1945 53

5 Graduate School in Physics at MIT, 1946–​1949 73

6 P
 ostdoctoral Work at Air Force Cambridge Research
Laboratories, 1949–​1951 89

vii
newgenprepdf

viii   ◾    Contents

7 MIT Lincoln Laboratory, 1951–​1965 97

7.1 Beginning a Scientific Career 97
7.2 Cyclotron Resonance 100
7.3 Interband Magneto-Optics 112
7.4 Masers and Diode Lasers 121

8 F rancis Bitter National Magnet Laboratory,

1958–​1981 131

9 Professor of Physics at MIT, 1965–​1981 171

10 Emeritus Years and Consulting, 1981–​2006 181

Selected Publications of Prof. Benjamin Lax 189

Theses Supervised or Mentored by Prof. Benjamin Lax 197

Notes 201

Biographical References for Prof. Benjamin Lax 243

Acknowledgments 245

About the Interviewer and Editors 247

Index 249

Online Material: Bibliography of Prof. Benjamin Lax’s Publications

Summary of the Life
and Career of
Prof. Benjamin Lax

P rof. Benjamin Lax (1915–​2015) was born in Hungary and immigrated

to this country in 1926. The Lax family settled in Brooklyn, New York.
Ben attended public grammar and high schools in Brooklyn, graduating
in 1936 from Boys High School with awards in mathematics, science, and
languages. During the academic year 1936–​1937, he attended Brooklyn
College, where he received first prizes in two mathematics competitions.
In 1937, he entered Cooper Union Institute of Technology in New York
City, where he held the Schweinburg Scholarship for four years. In 1941, he
graduated cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering
and with honors in mathematics.
He then took a job with Curtiss-​ Wright Corporation in Buffalo,
New York. He left that job after several months, and returned to Brooklyn
to pursue graduate education in mathematics. In the fall of 1941, he took
a job as a mechanical engineer with the US Army Corps of Engineers,
inspecting tugboats in New York Harbor. Also that fall, he took sev-
eral night courses in applied mathematics at Brooklyn Polytech and
New York University. He married Blossom Cohen in New York City in
February 1942.
In the summer of 1942, he began graduate work in mathematics at
Brown University, but this was interrupted when he was drafted into
the Army in August 1942. He underwent basic training at Camp Upton,
New York, and at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey, after which he completed

ix
x   ◾    Benjamin Lax

Officer Candidate School. He was assigned as a radar officer to the Radar

School at Harvard University and MIT, and later to the MIT Radiation
Laboratory, where he led a team that rapidly developed and deployed an
advanced radar set.
After the war, in 1945, he joined the US Army Air Corps Cambridge
Field Station. He left the Army in February 1946 and consulted for Sylvania
Electric Products in Boston for six months before beginning graduate
school in physics at MIT in October 1946. Three years later, in 1949, he
received his PhD in plasma physics. From 1949 to 1951 he carried on
postdoctoral research in microwave gas discharges in the Geophysical
Directorate of the Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories.
He joined the Solid State Group at the newly formed MIT Lincoln
Laboratory in November 1951. He advanced rapidly. He became Leader
of the Ferrites Group in 1953, Leader of the Solid State Group in 1955,
Associate Head of the Communications Division in 1957, Head of the Solid
State Division when it was established in 1958, and Associate Director of
Lincoln Laboratory in February 1964.
His groundbreaking research on resonance phenomena in solids in
magnetic fields at Lincoln Laboratory led to his conceiving the idea of a
new high-​magnetic-​f ield facility. In the late 1950s he assembled a team
to prepare the necessary plans and proposals, and led the successful
efforts to get the new national magnet facility funded. He served as
the first Director of this new facility, the MIT Francis Bitter National
Magnet Laboratory, from 1960 to 1981. Under his leadership, and
with support from the US Air Force Office of Scientific Research, the
National Science Foundation, and other agencies, this unique labora-
tory became a vibrant research facility that drew local, national, and
international scientists to conduct broad research efforts at high mag-
netic fields in a wide variety of materials, including semiconductors,
semimetals, insulators, ferrites, superconductors, gaseous plasmas, as
well as biological matter.
He relinquished his Associate Directorship of Lincoln Laboratory in May
1965, and in that same year was appointed Professor in the Department of
Physics at MIT, where he supervised 36 MIT doctoral students over a 30-​
year period, while also continuing as Director of the Magnet Laboratory
until 1981.
He became Director Emeritus and Physicist of the MIT Francis Bitter
National Magnet Laboratory in June 1981, and Professor Emeritus in the
 Summary, Life and Career ◾ xi

MIT Department of Physics in 1986. He remained an active, enthusi-

astic, and valued consultant to MIT Lincoln Laboratory and to Raytheon
Corporation until 2006.
He made significant and lasting contributions to solid state physics
and engineering, as well as to the physics of both solid state and gas-
eous plasmas. He innovated new resonance phenomena, including
cyclotron resonance, to determine the basic energy band structure of
semiconductors. He pioneered the field of magneto-​optics to further
elucidate the fundamental energy band properties of semiconductors.
He made important theoretical contributions that led to the demonstra-
tion of the first semiconductor diode laser in GaAs. His seminal basic
and applied research in semiconductor physics and engineering, which
included quantum electronics, provided a foundation for the develop-
ment of semiconductor technology.
Among his awards was the prestigious Oliver E. Buckley Prize for
Condensed Matter Physics from the American Physical Society in 1960 for
“his fundamental contributions in microwave and infrared spectroscopy
of semiconductors.” He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and
Sciences in 1962 and to the National Academy of Sciences in 1969. He was
a Fellow of the American Physical Society (APS), a member of the APS
Council, and a member of the Executive Committee of the APS Solid State
Division. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Science degree from
Yeshiva University in June 1975. In 1981, he was a named a Fellow of the
American Association for the Advancement of Science, and was awarded a
Guggenheim Fellowship in Mathematics.
He was an associate editor for several journals, including Physical Review,
Journal of Applied Physics, and Microwave Journal. He was the author or
coauthor of nearly 300 journal articles, and coauthor of the classic book
Microwave Ferrites and Ferromagnetics (McGraw-​Hill, 1962).

“He who controls magnetism will control the universe.”

Paraphrased from a Dick Tracey cartoon, 1932
“He who masters magnetism can bring enormous blessings to
mankind.”
Benjamin Lax, “Science and Magnetism,” University of Utah Frontiers
of Science Lecture, 16 December 1969
xii   ◾    Benjamin Lax

Timeline for the Life and Career of Prof. Benjamin Lax

Born   December 29, 1915, Miskolc, Hungary
Died   April 21, 2015, Newton, Massachusetts

Education
1941     BS, Mechanical Engineering, Cooper Union Institute of
Technology
1941     1st Lieutenant, Officer Candidate School, Fort
Monmouth, New Jersey
1949      PhD, Physics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Positions
1936–​1937   Student, Brooklyn College
1937–​1941   Student, Cooper Union Institute of Technology
1941     Curtiss-​ Wright Corporation, Buffalo, New York
1941–​1942   US Army Corps of Engineers, New York City
1942      Summer graduate student in mathematics, Brown
University
1942–​1946  US Army Air Corps, Radar Officer, assigned to MIT
Radiation Laboratory
1946      Consultant, Sylvania Electric Products, Boston
1946–​1949   Graduate student, Department of Physics, MIT
1946–​1951  US Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories, Staff
Member
1951–​1953   Staff Member, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
1953–​1955   Leader, Ferrites Group, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
1955–​1957   Leader, Solid State Group, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
1957–​1958  Associate Head, Communications Division, MIT
Lincoln Laboratory
1958–​1964   Head, Solid State Division, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
1960–​1981  Founding Director, MIT Francis Bitter National Magnet
Laboratory
1964–​1965   Associate Director, MIT Lincoln Laboratory
1965–​1986   Professor of Physics, MIT
1981–​2015  Director Emeritus and Physicist, MIT Francis Bitter
National Magnet Laboratory
1986–​2015   Professor Emeritus of Physics, MIT
 Summary, Life and Career ◾ xiii

Selected Participations
1957–​1959  Associate Editor, Journal of Applied Physics
1960–​1963  Associate Editor, Physical Review
1959-1974  Associate Editor, Microwave Journal
1963–​1967  Member, Council, American Physical Society, Member,
Executive Committee, American Physical Society, Solid
State Division
1964–​1981  Member, IEEE-​APS-​OSA Joint Council on Quantum
Electronics
1966–​1968   Chair, IEEE-​ APS-​
OSA Joint Council on Quantum
Electronics
1970      Chair, Organizing Committee, 10th International
Conference on the Physics of Semiconductors,
Cambridge, Massachusetts, August 17–​21, 1970
1970–​1981  Member, Solid State Science Panel, National Research
Council

Selected Awards and Honors

1957     Fellow, American Physical Society
1960     American Physical Society, Oliver E. Buckley Condensed
Matter Physics Prize
1962      American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Member
1964     Cooper Union Distinguished Professional Achievement
Award
1965     Citation for Outstanding Achievement, US Air Force
Systems Command
1969      Member, National Academy of Sciences
1969      Gano Dunn Medal, Cooper Union Alumni Association
1970     Outstanding Achievement Award, US Air Force Office
of Aerospace Research
1975      Honorary Doctor of Science degree, Yeshiva University
1981     Guggenheim Fellowship in Mathematics
1981     Fellow, American Association for the Advancement
of Science

Family
1940      Becomes a US citizen, June 8, New York City
1942      Marries Blossom Cohen, February 11, New York City
1948     Son Daniel R. Lax born
1950     Son Robert M. Lax born
Acronyms and
Abbreviations

AC Alternating Current
AFCRL Air Force Cambridge Research Laboratories
AFOSR Air Force Office of Scientific Research
APS American Physical Society
CCNY City College of New York
CERN Conseil Européen pour la Recherche Nucléaire (European
Organization for Nuclear Research)
DC Direct Current
IEEE Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
IF Intermediate Frequency
IRE Institute of Radio Engineers
LED Light Emitting Diode
LORAN Long Range Navigation
MIT Massachusetts Institute of Technology
NACA National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics
NASA National Aeronautics and Space Administration
NMR Nuclear Magnetic Resonance
NRL Naval Research Laboratory
NSF National Science Foundation
NYU New York University
OCS Officer Candidate School
ONR Office of Naval Research
OSA Optical Society of America
PPI Plan Position Indicator, a type of radar display
PX Post Exchange
RF Radio Frequency

xiv
 Acronyms and Abbreviations ◾ xv

RLE Research Laboratory of Electronics, MIT

SDI Strategic Defense Initiative
SQUID Superconducting Quantum Interference Device
TEA Transversely Excited Atmospheric, a type of laser
TR and T/R Transmitter/Receiver
WKB Wentzel–Kramers–Brillouin
Introduction

T his book presents a series of autobiographical interviews that Prof.

Benjamin Lax (1915–​2015) recorded in 1998–​2000 on his life and
career in physics.
These interviews took place at the MIT Lincoln Laboratory in Lexington,
Massachusetts. The interviewer was Dr. Donald T. Stevenson, a career-​long
colleague and close friend of Ben’s. The interviews were recorded onto 19
audio tape cassettes, with a total recording time of 20 hours. Don sub-
sequently transcribed the audio tapes into Word files, resulting in a 300-​
page raw transcript. In 2005, Ben and Don donated the tapes and the raw
transcript to the Niels Bohr Library & Archives at American Institute of
Physics Center for the History of Physics in College Park, Maryland.
The interviews are approximately chronological, although there are
occasional “flashbacks” to earlier events. The interviews begin with Ben’s
earliest memories of his childhood in a village in Hungary, and extend to
his Emeritus years. The interviews contain both personal and professional
reminiscences.
Chapters 1–​10 in this book contain edited selections from the original
transcript, representing about 150 pages of the original 300 pages, all in
Ben’s own words.

1
2   ◾    Benjamin Lax

We have gently edited and annotated the selections in Chapters 1–​10 of

this book. Most of our edits were done to improve clarity and readability of
what Ben was trying to express. We spell-​checked and fact-​checked Ben’s
text. We found that Ben’s recollections of names and events were quite
accurate. We added footnotes to give the reader background information
on the many events, dates, meetings, publications, and people that Ben
mentions in the interviews. We omitted duplicative text. Sometimes we
melded parallel accounts of the same event so as to capture as much detail
as possible. In some cases we rearranged portions of the text to accord
better with the chronology. Occasionally, we modified words or sentences
to more clearly convey Ben’s stories.
In some places within the text, we added editorial or otherwise helpful
comments. These are shown in italics and are usually contained in square
brackets.
These autobiographical interviews are more like monologs rather than a
traditional question-​and-​answer interview, so Chapters 1–​10 contain only
Ben’s words. We omitted the occasional questions from the interviewer.
Numbers enclosed by brackets, such as [6.17], appear throughout the
text and refer to items in the Notes section. For example, [6.17] refers to
note 17 for Chapter 6. Alternatively, alphanumerics enclosed by brackets
refer to items in other sections of the book. For example, [T34] would refer
to a thesis listed in the section Theses Supervised or Mentored by Prof.
Benjamin Lax. Similarly, references such as [P7.26] and [B11] would refer
to items in the Selected Publications and Biographical References sections,
respectively.

Reference to the interview tapes and raw transcript

“Benjamin Lax memoir [sound recording], 1998–​2000,” Niels Bohr Library
& Archives, American Institute of Physics, One Physics Ellipse, College
Park, Maryland 20740.
 CHAPTER 1

Early Years in Miskolc,

Hungary, 1915–​1 926

Taunted blind lady throws stone at young Ben Lax

My first recollection of my childhood goes back to when I was four years
old. That must have been the summer of 1920, right after World War I
ended.
There was a blind lady in front of the gate to our house, an iron gate. Our
house had a garden which went up a cobblestone slope to the houses that
were further back. She was in front of the house, and a bunch of hoodlums,
who were children and were gentile kids, were throwing stones at her
because she was half-blind. She kept cursing them and cursing them. She
was a Jewish lady. I happened to be just coming home. Even at four my
parents let me run around.
I was just coming home from a friend’s house down the street when
I passed her. She thought I was one of the hoodlums, and she threw a stone
and hit me in the back of the head and knocked me out. Apparently some
adults saw the incident and carried me to my house.
Nothing serious happened, but I remember this incident very clearly,
and I remember these children taunting and tormenting this poor semi-​
blind lady. She could see shadows. She probably had cataracts.

3
4   ◾    Benjamin Lax

Ben’s home and environs in Miskolc

My father was Louis Lax and my mother was Amelia (Grosswirth) Lax. We
lived in this house in Miskolc. The name of the street was Szeles Utza. At
that time, I think my father may have been in business, which ultimately
failed. But he became a wine salesman and made a decent living.
We lived in a house owned by a Jewish man. There were three families
that lived there: his family, mine, and another family who owned a lumber
yard and had the best apartment. We had an apartment with two rooms, a
big kitchen, a large foyer, and, on the ground floor, an open covered area
like a big porch. Often in the summer we used to take tables out there
and eat there. We always had a maid, some peasant girl, who slept in the
kitchen.
This place was very interesting because we lived in the middle house,
the landlord lived in the next house, and just beyond there were the barns
for horses and cattle which he owned. He owned milk cows. He also had
another barn opposite this barn. There was a big yard that had chickens.
Beyond the barn there was a big area, a big garden, where they grew
vegetables. In front of our house there was an open area, part of which
was the cobblestone walk. Beyond that there were trees, mulberry trees,
which I used to love to climb. We were the only young children in these
three houses. The lumber yard owner had two daughters, who were a little
older than me. They were probably in their early teens. All three families
were Jewish.
None of the houses, certainly not our house, had toilets. There was an
outhouse where you went to do your thing. Regularly, gypsies used to come
with a wagon that stank to high heavens, and we used to empty this sludge
underneath. We would be there, smelling all miserable, but this is the way
people lived at that time. This was in the early 1920s. They took the debris
away. They probably used it as fertilizer. They had a big tank, and they filled
this tank up and they took it away. It was very interesting.
Once you went down the cobblestone walk, on either side of the walk
were gardens with trees … very interesting for us children … and then next
to our house beyond the fence was a monastery. You could never go into
the monastery. There were tall fences around there, and when you went
out on the street there was a sidewalk in front. About a block away were
my friends, and the father of one of my friends ran the grocery store. His
name was Paul. The other friend’s name was Mickey. We all were the same
age, and later on, when we got older, we went to school together. We were
in the same classes.
 Early Years in Hungary, 1915–1926 ◾ 5

There were some nice houses along there. In one of them was a rea-
sonably well-​to-​do businessman who had a beautiful daughter, whose
name was Magda. I always admired her at a distance. I think she was about
my age.
My recollection is that right in front of our house was a big open area
called the Buzater, which essentially is an open area. Regularly, about once
a month, the peasants used to come there during the summer with their
wagons and horses to sell vegetables and all sorts of goods. This was an
exciting time. We watched the horses. We always admired the horses. In
the 1920s you never saw automobiles except on rare occasions. Most of the
roads were dirt roads.
On our street, on the opposite side beyond the Buzater, opposite my
friend’s house whose father owned the grocery store, was a woodwork
shop, a big shop, where they used to make furniture. I used to love to watch
them. It always fascinated me. Beyond our house, beyond the garden, past
the gardens of the monastery and the vegetable garden of our landlord,
were open fields where we used to play soccer with the other children. So
this was a very interesting area.
When you went away in the other direction on Szeles Utza, you went
up a hill and then, when you turned right, you went up another hill. My
grandfather’s home was up there. If you kept climbing that hill, there were
many mulberry trees that I used to love to climb as I got a little older.
We used to visit our grandfather, my maternal grandfather. They lived
there with their daughters, my mother’s sisters. He had a tavern. Peasants
and others used to come and drink. He also had a lot of wine. He had a
wine cellar, just beyond the house under the hill, just beyond the house. It
was a very interesting rural area.
The next interesting incident that I remember was when I think I was
about five years old, four and a half maybe … it was sometime after the
blind lady’s incident … airplanes flew overhead. In Hungarian we used
to call them repulo. I remember standing there with my father. My father
told me these were Russian planes. The reds were trying to infiltrate into
Hungary. In fact, they came at one time and confiscated my father’s cow,
which he had for the children, which he kept in the stable. They took the
cow that provided milk for us. So those are my earliest recollections.

Father saves Ben and brothers from a mad dog

I used to go to the synagogue on Saturday with my father. We young chil-
dren would go and pray, and then around noon the services would be
6   ◾    Benjamin Lax

finished and we’d walk home. The synagogue we went to was not far from
our school. We’d cross this little bridge that was over a little river between
the main street and the school. Then we’d go across this big field, which
was called the Buzater, where peasants used to bring their wares and sell
their goods and products. In fact, that was also the area where during the
summer the circus would put up its tents. It was a big open area in front
of our house and in front of the Roman Catholic Church or the Greek
Catholic Church, whatever it was.
So, this time of the year, I think it was in the fall, this big field was wide
open. The circus and the peasants would come in the summer. I think this
mad dog incident happened in the fall, approaching winter. As we were
walking there, my father said, “There’s a mad dog.” The dog was heading
directly toward us, and you could see the froth on his mouth. It wasn’t a
big dog, and somehow my father hurried us up and we got out of the way.
It was a scary thing because mad dogs attack people. There were
occurrences in Europe at that time of rabies. So we were kind of scared, and
fortunately we weren’t too far from our home, and there was a metal gate
there, although I think this dog could have gotten through it. We closed it.
Apparently the dog went by us. That was one of the scariest things I ever
saw, because he was heading straight toward us, but somehow my father
managed to get us away from it. We all were pretty mobile. I think it was
myself, and my two other brothers. I don’t think my oldest brother was
with us, but Ernest and I think Dave were with us.

Begins kindergarten at age four and a half

At age four and a half, I was scheduled to go to kindergarten. I remember
walking with my older sister, Ella, and crying all the way because I didn’t
want to go to school. I loved my freedom and the ability to roam around
and visit my friends.
But I went to school, which was right up the street, just beyond the
grocery store and my friend’s house. I entered kindergarten without any
incident. I don’t recall anything exciting there. I suppose, after I got used
to it, I enjoyed playing with the children because I was very friendly and
sociable.
At that time I could only speak Hungarian. My father could speak
Yiddish, but he never did. I spoke Hungarian to my father and mother.
My father was well-​schooled in Hebrew. He went to yeshiva until he was a
young man, and that was his primary training.
 Early Years in Hungary, 1915–1926 ◾ 7

Visits to grandfather’s farm and uncle’s farm

My maternal grandfather owned a farm in Czechoslovakia just north of
the border. Originally it was Hungary, but after World War I it became
Czechoslovakia. He also had a tavern where he entertained and sold
liquor. He had ducks and geese and all the other things, so they made a
living.
His brother also had a farm, and he was much better off. He was my
godfather. He had a much bigger farm, called Jagfala, which was just south
of the border. He had an orchard, he had wheat fields, and he had horses,
three large horses. One was a gray mare that used to pull a two-​wheeled
carriage. The other two were work horses. He had two beautiful Shetland
ponies that also were work horses that pulled the plow driven by his son,
whose name was Dezso, which is the equivalent of David in American.
My brother David’s Hungarian name also was Dezso. He was a strapping
young fellow who used to do all the farming.
They used to go to the orchard in the fall. I never saw that, but I visited
the orchard. They picked the apricots and they made liquor. They had a
still. They also made cheese because they had quite a few cows. They were
truly good farmers, and he was well off. He also owned some real estate in
Miskolc City, so he was considered to be wealthy. Every summer, from the
time I think I was seven, I would spend the summer there, at their house,
and I would have the freedom of the village … this was a peasant village …
and I would just roam around the area and I would go visit my uncle who
was plowing.
As I went through the village, I remember the peasant children would
always taunt me as being a Jew and chase me and I ran like hell. My Aunt
said: “This is a boy who never walks.” So that’s how I spent my summers.

Watches peasants partying on Sunday, their day off

On Sundays, the peasants came in from the surrounding farms. During the
week the men tilled the soil. The women, the young women, used to work
in different households as maids, to help with the children and everything
else in the house. We had one of those, a very nice-​looking young woman.
On Sundays, the men would be dressed up in their fancy outfits. These
were the colorful traditional outfits of peasants, with fancy hats with a fea-
ther in them. And these young maids would get the Sunday off. They’d
all go parading around in the main streets. It was very colorful. And, of
course, they’d get together.
8   ◾    Benjamin Lax

It turns out that our particular young woman had gotten together with
one of the men and had a child by him. In fact, she had to work to support
the child. They never got married.
Most of these peasants were uneducated. I don’t think they even went
to high school. They came from the farmlands. They often didn’t own the
farms. Some of the wealthier people owned the farms, and they just merely
helped to till the soil.
My uncle, my godfather, who lived just below the Czechoslovak border,
had such a farm. He used to hire these peasants to cut the wheat, and take
in the fruit from his orchards. He used to make brandy. So all these peasant
people would live in these villages.
This was a village north of Miskolc, and during the summer I would go
there. At the end of the summer the peasants would reap the wheat, cut
the wheat and stack it up, and put it into these machines that separated
the straw from the wheat. But on Sunday these guys would really dress
up fancy.
The land was usually owned by others. For example, my uncle owned
a lot of land. By European standards he was a wealthy man. He even
owned a townhouse in our town. He was a shrewd man. He also owned
a bar. The peasants would come in on Sunday and drink, and gypsies
would come in and play music, and it was a gay time. I remember I used
to peek in to see these grown men whooping it up. But their children
used to chase me all the time. Once they caught me and they started
whipping me. So apparently these peasants were brought up this way, to
be anti-​Semitic.

Enters first grade at age five and a half

At the age of five and a half I started a school that was further away, about a
half-mile or so away from my house, through the main thoroughfare or the
side streets, which is the way we usually went. This school faced the stream
that separated the business area from the school. This was a school run by
the Jewish community, which was a secular school and where we started
first grade. I went up there up to fifth grade.
Up until the fourth grade, I never bothered paying much attention, but
I learned. In fact, they used to bring my father in and complain that Bela,
that was my Hungarian name, was always daydreaming. But, nevertheless,
I learned, and in my fifth year I became much more interested, and I guess
I began to enjoy school. But up to then, I hated school. It just kept me from
all the other things that I loved to do, roam around, play soccer.
 Early Years in Hungary, 1915–1926 ◾ 9

Further down the street from this school was a Hebrew school, so
after the regular school, around three o’clock, we went to the Hebrew
school for a couple of hours to study the Bible in Hebrew, translated from
Hungarian, and so on. This went on until 1924 when my father left for
America.

Father leaves for America in 1924

He left for America in 1924. He had made up his mind that’s where he
wanted his family to live. He had wanted to go earlier but my mother
objected. But he made up his mind that Hungary, Miskolc, was not a good
place to bring up children. There were too many gangs roaming around,
beating up children. My older brother, who was a tough kid, used to go
around with brass knuckles to protect himself. I don’t know what incidents
he had, but apparently he came through OK.
When my father left, my mother, of course, was left with six children
[1.1]. There were four boys and two girls. I was the fourth child. My sister
Ella was older, and my brother Erno was older than her, about three and
a half years older than I was. Then there was my oldest brother, Alex, the
black sheep of the family, who was the tough guy. There were two younger
children, my brother Dezso, David as we called him later, and my sister,
Ilona, who changed her name to Eleanor.
Those were the six children. Most of us were happy children, and cer-
tainly the five of us got along very well. It was Alex who sort of ignored us
because he was the eldest, and we ignored him. We kept clear of him. He
had a temper.

Death of older brother Erno

Things went peacefully until about six months after my father left. My
brother, Erno, was caught by a gang of kids. These were gentile kids who
jumped on him, beat him, and kicked him in the kidneys. A few months
later he started having trouble. After a while, he couldn’t go to school and
was bedridden. He was a marvelous, bright young kid. He had a tremen-
dous sense of humor. He made all the children laugh. He even made the
adults laugh.
In my opinion, he probably was the brightest of the lot. I never realized
I was bright until later, but there’s no question that I think he was even
brighter than me. He was very talented. It was tragic. A year after he got
kicked, they had to take him to Budapest to a hospital and he died there.
The whole family was tragically affected. My father wrote a letter back
10   ◾    Benjamin Lax

and said that he thought the best of the lot died. I’m sure Erno was the
brightest.

Studies Hebrew
During that time, as I went through Hebrew school, an elementary school,
I was precocious. One of the Hebrew teachers decided to teach me at the
age of nine how to read the Torah.
We always went to synagogue on Saturday with my grandfather, to a
private home, part of which was converted to a synagogue, to pray. There
they read the Torah during the prayers. At the end of the prayers there was
a special passage which anybody could read, even a child. At the age of
nine, I learned to read this, and this is done with intonation. The Torah,
which is read in the temple, has certain symbols that tell you how to read
this in a singsong. Apparently I had a good ear for music. I learned all this
under the tutelage of this teacher, and to my grandfather’s great surprise,
I volunteered to read it at the week that this particular passage was due, and
I did it. He was very proud.
My mother wrote my father, who was so pleased he sent me $3 for me
to spend. I didn’t spend it. I gave it to my mother. Three dollars was a lot of
money. She could use it for the benefit of the family.

Trouble on the farm causes a hasty exit

When I was nine and a half, I went for my summer vacation to my
godfather’s farm as usual. One day there were these peasant children who
were tending geese. One of them was a slightly older child. There were
three of them. They were tending the geese and they cornered me. The
older one started whipping me with his whip. At that age I used to have a
temper. I got very angry. I had something in my hand, I think it was a piece
of metal, and I just hit him over the temple. I think he fell down and I ran
away. I didn’t even see if I had done any damage, but apparently it stopped
their ganging up on me. This was late in the afternoon or evening and, of
course, I hid in the house.
I was frightened because I didn’t know what I had done, but apparently
I was told that I had injured him pretty seriously in the temple above the
eye, and I think they were ready to lynch me. So that night, my family
packed all my goods, and we took the gray mare with the carriage, and
they put me on the train, and I guess they notified my father by telegraph
or something. But early in the morning, I got on the train and I left for
Miskolc. So that was the end of my summer vacations.
 Early Years in Hungary, 1915–1926 ◾ 11

Trouble with boy next door

That brings me to another incident. There was a gentile boy next door to us
who used to terrorize me for years, and every time he came, I ran. I don’t
know why I was afraid of him, but apparently he intimidated me.
But that summer we were playing soccer in the Buzater. He came along
and he decided he was going to beat me up. I decided for once I’m going to
stand my ground. Instead of his beating me up, I wrestled him to the ground
and I started pummeling him. As was usual in wrestling in Hungary, you
put your thumb in his mouth and make his mouth bleed. That was the end
of that incident. He never bothered me.
But there was a fallout to that. Apparently he had an older cousin who
had watched this fight, and he thought I ought to be whipped. This guy
kept chasing me until we left for America later in August. This happened in
July. This is the kind of atmosphere we lived in.

Mayoral election troubles

When I was about seven or eight, just before my father left for America in
1924, there was a big election in the city. A Fascist and a moderate gen-
tile ran for mayor. The Jewish inhabitants were allowed to vote. And they
swung the vote to the moderate. Then the adults who were associated with
this Fascist, his followers, went around beating Jews, adults, in the city.
I remember my father sent the maid to bring us home from school because
they were afraid they would beat children too.
The maid came and picked us up at school. This was around midday.
We walked home along the side streets. As we approached our house,
on this big area which I called the Buzater, we saw in the middle of it a
gang of hoodlums hitting one of these Jews with a beard, with a long coat
and a black hat, one of the orthodox Jews. They were beating him. I guess
they were very upset because their man lost the election. That was one
of the incidents, among others, that I think influenced my father to leave
Hungary.

Visits Tokaj with father

My father was a wine merchant, so he’d go to Tokaj [1.2], which was not far
from our city. You go by train. Maybe it was an hour or so, or a couple of
hours by train. Just before he left for America, he decided to take me and
my brother to Tokaj, just for a trip. So we went with him on the train, and
we got off. While he was doing his business, we were watching the peasants
jumping in the big vats, crushing the grapes with their bare feet. This is
12   ◾    Benjamin Lax

a sight I saw many years later when I returned to Hungary. It was quite
a sight.
Then one of the peasant boys came along and threatened to beat the two
of us up. Of course, two of us were there and he had no chance. But this was
typical of what happened in Hungary. I mean, these children, I don’t know
whether their parents influenced them that it was legitimate to beat up
Jewish boys. Anyway, he couldn’t do anything because we were two wiry,
strong kids. We didn’t, let’s say, beat him up, but we held him in a head lock,
and that was that.
But that happened time and again. Not just there, it also happened in
America, as I’ll tell you later on. I’ve had at least three incidents in my
lifetime where some boys picked on me because I was a Jewish boy, par-
ticularly if I forgot to take my yarmulke off my head. You know what a yar-
mulke is ‒ a little cap. But it wasn’t as frequent as it was in Hungary.

Enjoys playing soccer

Miskolc was a very pretty city. In the middle of the city you had a park with
a big hill, almost like a mountain, called Avas. It would have made a good
ski slope. We used to go up there for picnics.
At the foot of this place there was a soccer field. Occasionally, we went
there to watch the professional soccer players. There were two great soccer
players on our city’s team. One guy was a little stocky guy and he could run.
The other fellow was a tall, handsome guy. He was what they call a striker
today. So these were some of the things that children of my age (between
six and ten) got excited about.
We played a lot of soccer in Hungary. We went to the fields behind the
house with a soccer ball. Usually one of the boys would have one. We would
just run around and kick it. There were, of course, older boys further down
who would be playing soccer too. This was the favorite sport in Hungary,
and most Hungarian kids who were athletic were very much interested in
soccer. Soccer players were our heroes.

Tutored in 1924, learns German

When my father left for America in 1924, two years before we did, my
mother decided to get us a tutor because we weren’t doing that well in
school. I wasn’t very interested in school at that time. This tutor lived in a
nearby housing complex. In Europe there were courtyards and there were
apartments around the courtyards.
Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Respectfully
mine
This ebook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States
and most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no
restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it
under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included with this
ebook or online at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the
United States, you will have to check the laws of the country where
you are located before using this eBook.

Title: Respectfully mine

Author: Randall Garrett

Illustrator: John Schoenherr

Release date: November 17, 2023 [eBook #72147]

Language: English

Original publication: New York, NY: Royal Publications, Inc, 1958

Credits: Greg Weeks, Mary Meehan and the Online Distributed

Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK

RESPECTFULLY MINE ***
 Respectfully Mine

By RANDALL GARRETT

Illustrated by JOHN SCHOENHERR

Leland Hale was undoubtedly the cleverest

crook in the universe. But how could even he
crack that closely-guarded time capsule?

[Transcriber's Note: This etext was produced from

Infinity August 1958.
Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed.]
 Thieves respect property. They merely wish the
property to become their property, that they may more
perfectly respect it.—The Man Who Was Thursday, by
G. K. Chesterton.
Tracing the path of a human being over a million parsecs of space
and a half century of time isn't easy, even when the subject makes no
effort to conceal his route or confuse his contemporaries. The
difficulty increases by a factor of at least ten when the subject is a
wily, clever, and thoroughly ruthless scoundrel like Leland Hale. If it
was difficult for the Interstellar Police to track down Hale a century
ago, it is easy to see why it would be almost impossible today. The
records are too sketchy.
But while it is virtually impossible to give any coherent chronological
account of the life of Leland Hale, it is certainly possible to deduce
what did happen during those periods of his life which are accurately
documented. Modern psychometric analysis enables us to pinpoint
his character down to the seventieth decimal place, and that, in turn,
enables us to see what he must have done in a given circumstance,
being the kind of man he was.
Folk legend has a tendency to make heroes of even the vilest of
villains, provided they are colorful enough, and no amount of fact ever
quite smothers the romantic legend. Such mythical or semi-mythical
characters as Robin Hood, Jesse James, Billy the Kid, John Dillinger,
Captain Hamling Fox III, and Hilary Boone were all rascals to the
core, but even today they have their practicing cults. But the cultus
peculiar to Leland Hale seems to outshine them all, and for the
singularly perverse reason that he was worse than all the rest rolled
together. Indeed, he has been touted throughout the galaxy as a sort
of super Simon Templar, who "robbed from the rich and gave to the
poor." Rob from the rich he did, but the recipient was Leland Hale,
who was rarely, if ever, in penurious circumstances.
If there is any way in which the legends of Leland Hale do not
exaggerate, it is in the descriptions of his physical size. Here, there is
no need to exaggerate; Hale stood six feet six in his bare feet and
had an absolute mass of some one hundred thirty-eight kilograms—
very little of it fat. His hair was black and his skin was deeply tanned;
his face was hard, blocky, and handsome. Mentally, he was brilliant;
morally, he had one philosophy—"Leland Hale deserves to own the
galaxy." He knew the goal was unobtainable, but he worked steadily
at it.
What he wanted, he took, and if it wasn't available, he took the next
best thing—all of which brings us around to the peculiar incident on
the planet Apfahl.

A century ago, Apfahl was just one of those little backwater planets
that cluttered the fringes of the main streams of galactic trade. During
the early colonization of the planet, the great southern continent was
the only section of the new world that seemed worth colonizing. By
the end of the first three centuries, it was fairly well covered with
people, and those people had divided themselves into two groups.
The southernmost part of the continent, being closer to the pole, and
higher in altitude, was occupied by semi-nomadic herdsmen who kept
animals that could graze on the almost untillable tundra. The northern
peoples, on the other hand, became farmers.
As a result, the Apfahlians quarrelled over the rightful seat of the
colony government, and, after much strife, two capitals were set up,
and the country of Sudapfahl and the country of Nordapfahl glared at
each other across the boundary that separated them.
Just where the name Apfahl came from, no one is quite sure. Since it
was originally colonized by people from Vega IV, which in turn was
colonized directly from Earth by people of Old Germanic stock, an
attempt has been made to trace the name through that language. The
attempt has resulted in two schools of thought.
One school contends that the word comes from the Old Earth
German word Apfel, which means "apple"; the other school, with an
equally sound basis, insists that the name is derived from Abfall,
meaning "garbage." Which school of thought one follows seems to be
entirely dependent on whether one is an inhabitant of the planet or
has merely visited there.
Leland Hale was, perhaps, an exception to that rule; the first time he
saw it, hanging in the blackness a couple of hundred thousand miles
out of the forward plate of his expensive private ship, the planet
looked very much like an apple—ripe and ready for plucking.
Naturally.
Now, about all the average galactic citizen knows about Apfahl these
days is that it was the birthplace of Dachboden; as a matter of fact,
that's all anybody thought of it as a hundred years ago. Someone
says: "R. Philipp Dachboden, the Painter of Apfahl," and everyone
nods knowingly. But it would be worth your while to give five-to-one
odds against any given person being able to tell you what sector it's
in. And, actually, that's as it should be; aside from the fact that R.
Philipp Dachboden was born there, Apfahl has no claim whatever to
galactic prominence.
But it almost did. If it hadn't been for Leland Hale—

In order to understand exactly what happened, we'll have to look over

our cast of main characters. Aside from Leland Hale himself, there
are two gentlemen who played no small part in the Apfahlian farce.
Hinrik Fonshliezen was a tall, dark, lean specimen with a corvine
nose, a vulpine mind, and a porcine greed. Lest this list of
characteristics smack too much of the animalistic, let it be said that
Fonshliezen's memory was not elephantine, which was too bad for
him.
Hinrik's great grandfather, one Villim Fonshliezen, had managed,
through dint of much hard labor and much underhanded business, to
amass one of the biggest ranches in Sudapfahl. By the time Hinrik's
generation rolled around, the Fonshliezen holdings were great
enough to make it worth Hinrik's while to enter politics—which, of
course, he did. In what is known as due time, he reached the position
of State Portfolio, a chancellorship second only to the Prime
Chancellor himself.
It is easily understandable that his ambitions included the Primacy
itself. He knew, however, that his chances of actually getting the
office were slim. He was efficient; he could handle any of the
Portfolios in the File with ease. He had been elected to the File from
his own country because he had financial control of that country, but
winning a General Election was something else again, because he
was not a popular man.
That is not to say he was unpopular; probably he was no more
generally disliked than any other politician. But he simply didn't have
the knack of attracting favorable attention to himself; he was not, to
put it bluntly, a lovable man. He had very carefully avoided doing
anything that would make the public angry with him, but avoiding
hatred is not the same thing as attracting love.
Having come to this realization, Hinrik Fonshliezen found himself
looking for either a good deed to do or a good press agent—or both.
Let's leave him looking for the moment, and skip up above the border
into the country of Nordapfahl. In the city of Grosstat, we will find the
Museum of Cultural History, and within that museum, seated in a
comfortable, book-lined office, we find the museum's director, Dr.
Rudolf Mier.
Physically, Dr. Mier was easily distinguishable from Fonshliezen. To
parallel the previous trope, Mier was porcine in build, bovine in
manner, and lupine in business matters.
Mier liked the good things of life—food, liquor, women, fine art, good
music, and well-tailored clothes. He overindulged in all of them
except liquor and women. He was moderate in his use of the former
because he found drunkenness repulsive, and of the latter because
women found him repulsive.
The Museum of Cultural History was his great love, however; as long
as he had it and his work, he could dispense with many of life's little
luxuries—if it became absolutely necessary to dispense with them.
The Museum wasn't much by galactic standards. It had only been in
existence for a couple of centuries, and, in a scanty civilization such
as that of Apfahl, two hundred years isn't much time to pick up a
museum full of really valuable and worthwhile exhibits. The faded
uniform of Field Marshal So-and-so might excite the beating, patriotic
heart of an Apfahlian, but it was of very little worth as a cultural relic.
But to Dr. Mier, the Museum was one of the great landmarks of
human history. He envisaged a day, not too far distant, when his
small collection would be known as the Apfahlian Division of the
Interstellar Museum of Natural and Cultural History. According to the
records of the Interstellar Museum, Dr. Rudolf Mier actually made
tactful, cautious reaches toward such a goal. He was tactfully
reminded that it would be necessary to "improve the general
standards" of the Apfahlian museum before any such recognition
could be granted.
Dr. Mier did not actually think that such recognition would come in his
own lifetime; he was somewhat of an idealist, and we must give him
credit for that. But one day certain papers—very old-looking and
yellowed papers—came to his attention, and he sent off a hurried
spacegram to the Board of the Interstellar Museum.
In view of the fact that the Interstellar Museum's directors did not get
around to considering the spacegram for nearly two months, it is
unusual that Mier got an immediate reply to his communication. But
Mier didn't know that, and he was very pleased to hear that an art
expert, Dr. Allen H. Dale, was being dispatched immediately to
appraise the situation.
The eminent Dr. Dale had some trouble in reaching the planet; big
space liners did not—and still do not—make regular stops at Apfahl.
Dr. Dale did, however, manage to get the captain of the I.S.S.
Belvedere to veer aside from his predetermined course and drop his
passenger to Apfahl in a small flitter. It cost Dr. Dale a goodly sum,
but it was worth it.
When they were near the planet, the Belvedere stopped, and Dr. Dale
went aboard the flitter with the pilot.
Dr. Dale, the art expert, had a full, graying beard that covered half his
face, and a large shock of graying hair. He might have been a
muscular man, but the cut of his clothes made his six and a half feet
of body seem fat and clumsy. He gave the impression of a man who
could neither fight nor run, but who depended on superior pomposity
to stare down his opponents.
The flitter pilot strapped himself down and said: "Not much money on
Apfahl. Still, I hear there's something stirring." He adjusted Dr. Dale's
seat. "Something about art, eh?" He looked at his passenger as if
expecting some comment.
He was not disappointed. Dr. Dale cleared his throat and said: "Yes.
There has been some excitement in artistic circles of late. Of course,
the news only came out a few weeks ago, and it takes time for
anything like that to spread around the galaxy, even among the
civilized planets."
The pilot twiddled switches and control knobs as he eased the little
ship into a landing orbit. "Well, whatever it is, it must be important for
a man to lay out all the extra cash it costs to get Captain Gremp to
stop the Belvedere and drop you off." Again he glanced at his
passenger.
"Young man," said Dr. Dale, "if you are trying to pump me for
information, that is no way to go about it; on the other hand, if you are
merely trying to keep a conversation going, there is no need to be
coy. I am not on a secret mission for the Interstellar Police, nor am I
normally a close-mouthed man. If you are curious, say so; I can give
you a full explanation before we land."
The pilot reddened a little. "Well—uh—yes. I was sort of wondering
what's supposed to be so important about a piece of wood." Gingerly,
he applied power as the ship dropped toward the cloud-flecked
surface of Apfahl.
"Piece of wood!" Dr. Dale seemed in agony. His gray beard bristled in
indignation. "Young man, I presume you have heard of R. Philipp
Dachboden?"
The sarcasm in his voice was light, but even so the pilot reddened
more deeply. A hundred years ago, the brilliant genius of Dachboden
was perhaps not quite as widely appreciated as it is today, but even
then, two centuries after his death, the name of R. Philipp Dachboden
ranked with those of Da Vinci and Matisse.
"You are aware, I think," continued the pompous doctor, "that
Dachboden did all his sculpture in the wood of the dynak tree, which
is native to Apfahl?"
"Sculpture?" asked the pilot. "I thought he was a painter."
"He was," said Dr. Dale sourly. "His paintings are worth tens of
thousands. But his carvings are worth hundreds of thousands. There
are only eighteen examples of his work known to be in existence.
Now there is reason to believe there may be a nineteenth."
"Oh yeah," said the pilot. "He left one in the time capsule, eh?"
"Presumably. We'll know in a few weeks."
"I guess there'll be a lot of art experts coming in pretty soon, then,
huh?" the pilot asked.
"I expect my colleagues to arrive on the Quinsen, out of Denebola.
It's the next scheduled liner to make a stop here at Apfahl. I, however,
wanted to get the jump on them. Get in on the ground floor, so to
speak," the doctor told him.
"I getcha," said the pilot. It didn't occur to him to wonder what good it
would do to get in early when the time capsule wouldn't open until the
scheduled time, anyway, and by then all the art experts for a
thousand parsecs around would be clustered on the spot.

When the flitter landed, the self-important Dr. Allen H. Dale

supervised the unloading of his luggage at the third-rate little
spaceport near the city of Grosstat, a few miles from the shores of the
Kaltvosser Sea. It hadn't been grounded ten minutes before a big,
black, newly-made automobile of quaintly antique design rolled up to
the edge of the landing pit. Two uniformed men got out and stood at
attention at the rear door, which opened to disgorge a third man, a
civilian. The civilian was almost as broad as Dr. Dale, but not nearly
so tall; he looked well-fed, almost oily, and he had a smug expression
on his round face.
Flanked by the two uniformed men, the portly civilian moved
ponderously toward the heap of traveling bags and the gray-bearded
man who was standing beside them.
"Dr. Allen Dale?" he asked respectfully.
If, by this time, the astute reader has begun to suspect that Leland
Hale might perhaps be lurking behind that gray beard and that
anagrammatical alias, that reader may give himself a small pat on his
back. Leland Hale was perfectly capable of posing as an art expert
for the very simple reason that he was an art expert. Therefore, it was
with perfect and utter aplomb that he turned to the fat civilian, evinced
moderate surprise, and said: "I am Dr. Dale, sir. And whom have I the
honor of addressing?"
The civilian bowed very slightly, a mere angling of the spine and a
slight bob of the head. "I have," said the chubby one in slightly
accented Standard, "the honor to be the director of the Grosstat
Museum of Cultural History, Dr. Rudolf Mier."
Leland Hale looked pleasantly surprised. "Ah! Dr. Mier! A very great
pleasure to meet you, sir."
"We received your subradiogram, Doctor," said Mier. "Naturally, I,
myself, came to meet you."
"Naturally," agreed Leland Hale.
"We get very few extra-planetary visitors here," Dr. Mier continued
apologetically. "Apfahl is, I fear, a little off the—ah—beaten path. Of
course, we expect—"
"—to be more widely recognized after the opening of the time
capsule," Leland Hale finished for him. "Of course. And it's only right.
The galaxy must give due respect to the birthplace of the great
Dachboden—and they shall, never fear."
The Director looked like a freshly-petted cocker spaniel.
"We have arranged for your stay here, Dr. Dale. The Kayser Hotel is
holding a suite for you. Your instruments—" He gestured toward the
pile of luggage. "—will be taken there. I wonder if you would honor
me with your presence at lunch?"
"By all means, my dear Director—but the honor will be entirely mine."
Within three minutes, Leland Hale was firmly planted in the rear seat
of the car beside the Director of the Museum of Cultural History, while
the uniformed men sat in front, one of them tooling the vehicle off
down the narrow concrete roadway toward the city of Grosstat.
"Tell me," said Leland Hale, "how did all this come about? The news
releases were very sketchy."
Rudolf Mier leaned back comfortably in his seat and allowed a look of
semi-concentration to envelope his face.
"Well, it all began a couple of centuries ago—back during
Dachboden's lifetime. That's when the Museum was founded, you
know." Then he stopped and looked at Hale. "Ah—do you know? I
mean, are you acquainted with the history of Apfahl?"
Hale looked properly embarrassed, "I'm afraid I know very little,
Doctor. In spite of Dachboden's fame, Apfahl has not shared that
fame as it properly should. Let us say that, although Apfahl basks in
the glory of her renowned son, she doesn't reflect too much of it. You
will have to assume I know absolutely nothing, I'm afraid."
"I see," said Mier. "Well, then, at any rate, the Museum was founded
by a group of our forefathers for the purpose of preserving the unique
heritage that is Apfahl's. In accordance with this ideal, they proposed
to bury a time capsule containing contemporary artifacts. You are
acquainted with the practice, I assume?"
"It's quite common," said Hale.
"As it should be. Each age should take pains to be sure that the
ensuing age does not lose its heritage."
"Of course." Hale honestly didn't see why it should—if Hale could
ever be said to do anything honestly. Anything worth preserving was
not the sort of junk that was usually put in a time capsule. Oh, well—
"The capsule is of the standard type," Mier continued. "Hermetically
sealed, with a tamper-proof time lock activated by a radio-decay
clock. It's set to open at ——" He rattled off a string of numbers, and
then went on to explain the Apfahlian calendar, winding it up with:
"Our calendar is very scientific."
"Very," said Hale.
"At any rate, the capsule was buried underneath the Museum and
then practically forgotten. Oh, we knew it was there, but little notice
has been taken of the fact over the past century and more. We don't
even know what is in it—that is, not in detail. The official list, for
instance, simply says that 'various objects of art' are included, but it
makes no mention of Dachboden. That's not too strange, really, since
the great man's contemporaries didn't recognize his genius.
"But recently we have uncovered a book—a very old book, which we
believe was owned by Dachboden himself. Inside it, there was the
beginning of a letter addressed to a friend, in which Dachboden
mentioned that one of his dynak-wood statues had been picked to be
put in the time capsule, and had been sealed in just the day before
the letter was written.
"Naturally, as soon as we heard of that, we of the Museum exhumed
the time capsule to check again the exact date upon which it is due to
reopen. It is now under careful guard within the Museum itself."
As the car rolled into the outskirts of Grosstat, Hale looked around
and remarked: "So this is the birthplace of the famous Dachboden."
The expression on the face of the Director changed slightly; he
looked a little flustered.
"Well, not exactly," he said.
Hale turned on him, surprise showing in his eyes. "Not exactly? Oh,
come now, my dear Director; either it is or it isn't—eh?"
"Ah—well, yes. It isn't. Uh—what I mean to say is that, although
Dachboden spent most of his life in Grosstat, he was actually born in
Grunfelt."
"Oh?"
"Yes." He waved a hand in a little nervous circle. "You must
understand that Apfahl is, as I said, a rather—ah—well, backward is
too strong a word, but—" He stopped, swallowed, began again. "You
see, Dr. Dale, Apfahl does not yet have a united planetary
government. We have—ah—two sectors, each independently
governed. Of course, we who are more enlightened deplore such a
state of affairs, but—" He stopped again and smiled weakly.
"However that may be, Dr. Dale, it so happens that R. Philipp
Dachboden was born, not in this nation of Nordapfahl, but in the
country of Sudapfahl."
"But he came here to work, eh?"
Mier bobbed his head in an emphatic yes. "Of course! No man of his
brilliance could have been expected to stay in the art-smothering
atmosphere of Sudapfahl as it was two hundred years ago. Or even,
for that matter, as it is today."
"Well, well," boomed Leland Hale with pompous heartiness, "you are
certainly fortunate. Very fortunate indeed, Dr. Mier. To think that there,
in your museum, you have an art treasure worth many hundreds of
thousands of stellors—possibly a million. Marvelous!"
Dr. Rudolf Mier positively glowed. "Well—yes—I suppose we are
pretty lucky at that." A slight frown came over his face. "It has always
been—ah—somewhat of a thorn in the side of Apfahl—especially
Nordapfahl—that Dachboden was a little ungrateful in not allowing us
to keep at least one example of his art."
Leland Hale placidly refrained from pointing out that Dachboden
would have starved to death trying to sell his material on Apfahl two
centuries before. In the first place, no one there appreciated him, and
in the second place, there wasn't much money to be spent on art.
Even the little amount Dachboden got for his work off-planet was a
tremendous sum as far as Apfahl's economy was concerned.

The luncheon was typically Apfahlian fare—rough, tasteless, but

nourishing. Hale ate it stolidly, neither liking nor disliking it; he was
merely indifferent to it. Dr. Mier on the other hand, complained that it
wasn't properly cooked and still managed to put away enough for
three men.
"Tell me, Doctor," said Hale, when he found a lull between courses,
"have you considered the idea that someone might steal such a
valuable object?"
Mier finished chewing a bite, swallowed it, and shook his head.
"There is not much chance of that, Dr. Dale. In the first place, it is
locked within the capsule. Oh, I'll admit that the entire capsule could
be stolen; it is big, but not so big that it couldn't be taken by someone
with the proper equipment.
"However, that kind of equipment isn't available to the average man
here on Apfahl. And besides, it is thoroughly guarded. After we dug it
up from the basement, our government provided the Museum with a
full battalion of armed troops to surround the building day and night.
No unauthorized person can get in, and they certainly couldn't get the
time capsule out."
"Wouldn't it be possible to break into the capsule?"
Dr. Mier chuckled deeply. "You have not seen this capsule. Oh, I'll
grant that it might be broken into, but doing so would involve so much
damage that the contents would be ruined, rendering the attempt
useless. No, Dr. Dale; no one will steal our little treasure." He
chuckled again, and, as the next course was brought on, he began
shoveling it in. The silence was unbroken save for the sounds of
eating.
After a few moments, Leland Hale glanced casually at his watch and
compared it with the big mechanical clock on the wall of the hotel
cafe. He hoped his timing was correct.
It was. Seven minutes later, a man wearing the uniform of a Museum
guard scuttled into the room as though he were being followed by a
fleet of hornets. He stopped near the door, glanced rapidly over all
the diners, located Dr. Mier, and made his way hurriedly toward the
table.
"Dr. Mier! Dr. Mier!" His rasping voice was about as secretive as a
stage whisper. The other diners swiveled their heads to look.
Mier, startled, glanced up at the messenger.
"Yes, Mooler? Speak up, man; what is it?"
The uniformed man put a single sheet of paper on the table. "This just
came over the teletype wire from our correspondent in Sudapfahl, sir!
Read it!"
Dr. Mier read, and, as he did so, his eyes widened. "Good Heavens!"
he said at last, "This is terrible!"
"What?" asked Leland Hale, in all innocence.
"This!" Mier shoved the teletype sheet across the table.
Grunfelt, Sudapfahl: The excellent Hinrik
Fonshliezen, Portfolio of State, announced
today the discovery of a time capsule similar to
that in the Museum of Grosstat, Nordapfahl. The
capsule, set for a date approximately one day
later than that of the northern capsule, is said
to be buried beneath the capitol building,
according to official records disclosed to the
public this morning. Excavations will begin
immediately, according to his excellency's
statement, it is expected that the capsule may
contain some examples of the work of R. Philipp
Dachboden.
Leland Hale read it carefully and shook his head. "Dear me," he said
mildly.
"It may mean nothing to you, an outsider," said Dr. Mier bitterly, "but
do you realize that to us this is a matter of national honor and
prestige?"
"Oh, yes. Of course. Naturally. Believe me, Dr. Mier, I certainly
appreciate your position." He spread his hands slightly. "But, of
course, you realize that, as a representative of the Interstellar
Museum, I will have to check on the Sudapfahlian claim." Before Mier
could voice any objections, Leland Hale silenced him with a wave of
his hand. "You have nothing to worry about, Dr. Mier; as you know,
the Interstellar Museum only allows one branch to a planet. Naturally,
your museum would certainly have priority over that of Sudapfahl."
"Sudapfahl doesn't even have a museum," Mier said, looking fatly
superior.
"Besides," Hale continued mollifyingly, "I shan't go there until after I
have seen what your own time capsule has to offer. It seems to me
that the Sudapfahlian government actually doesn't know what's inside
their capsule. Their statements seem to be made out of pure
jealousy."
"You're probably quite right, Dr. Dale," said Mier.
"Oh, I know I'm right," said Leland Hale truthfully.

After lunch, Dr. Allen H. Dale informed Dr. Mier that, as he was a bit
fatigued from his trip, he would like to rest for a few hours. Mier
agreed whole-heartedly, and the two men made an appointment to
meet later in the afternoon for a tour of the Grosstat Museum of
Cultural History, and perhaps dinner and a few drinks afterwards.
After seeing his guest into his room, Dr. Mier strolled out of the hotel,
stepped into his car, and ordered the driver to take him to the
Museum. There were big things to be done. This new threat from the
south was not to be taken too lightly.
At the Museum—a huge, cold-looking, blocky granite structure—Mier
climbed out of his car, toiled up the broad stairs to the entrance, and
strolled rollingly in. On every side, flunkies, both in uniform and out,
bowed and scraped as the Great Man passed by. Dr. Mier reached
his book-lined office just as the telephone rang.
He picked up the instrument, a mechanism of ancient design
possessing no vision equipment, and announced that he was Dr.
Rudolf Mier.
"This is Lieutenant-Marshal Dilon, State Police. You have just
returned from lunch with a Dr. Allen H. Dale, purporting to be from the
Galactic Museum?"
"Why, yes; I just—What do you mean, purporting?"