A Zloor For Your Trouble!

A Zloor For Your Trouble written by Mack ReynoldsPrescott stood to make a young fortune if he could capture a martian zloor—dead or alive! Was there a catch to it? Only for the hunter!"Keep my size out of it," I snapped. I indicated with a thumb a little statuette on my desk. "The guy my mother named me after was pint size too. He got along all right."He looked over at Bonaparte. "Ummm," he said. "Napoleon was a big name once—but he's only a bust now." "Listen, you're asking for a bust yourself. Why don't you run along? I'm busy."He ignored me, found a chair that had nothing but a few magazines on it, tossed them to the floor and sat down. "Your name was brought up because you're the smallest professional hunter on Earth. It'd save a few thousand credits in getting you to Mars and back." "What in kert are you talking about?" I growled. "The government wants a specimen, at least one, of a zloor.""A what?" "A zloor. A small Martian animal." I scowled at him. "And just why does the government want a zloor?" "That's a secret.""Okay. I'll tell you another secret. Somebody else can catch the government a zloor. I've never been off Earth and I haven't any particular hankering to go now.""I doubt if you could have got one anyway." I said easily, "If anyone else could catch it, I could."He reached for the doorknob, "I'd lay a thousand credits against that," he said. He began to leave. "Wait a minute, buddy. Are you just sounding off or have you got a thousand credits you don't care what happens to?"He turned and faced me. "I am willing to wager a thousand credits that you can't capture a zloor.""How big are they?" "About the size of a rabbit." I glowered at him. "They very fast, or very poisonous, or what?" He shrugged. "They can't run quite as fast as a common Terran hare, and I understand they're quite gentle.""Then why haven't they been captured?"