He jumped out and hurried over.

* * * * *

"But you simply can't!" a white-haired man in blue-and-orange business
clothes was protesting. "If you do, the Associated Fraternities'll be
liable for losses we incur; you know that!"

Bayne, his thin face livid with anger--and also, Cardon noticed, with
what looked like a couple of fresh bruises--ignored him. Feinberg
broke off his chant of "Unfair! Unfair!" long enough to answer:

"A Literate First Class has been brutally assaulted by the Illiterate
owner of this store. Literate service for this store is, accordingly,
being discontinued, pending a decision by the Grand Council of the
local Fraternity."

Cardon grabbed the blue-and-orange clad man and dragged him to one
side.

"What happened, Hutschnecker?" he demanded.

"They're walking out on us," Hutschnecker told him, unnecessarily.
"The boss had a fight with Bayne; knocked him down a couple of times.
Bayne tried to pull his tablet gun, and I grabbed it away from him,
and somebody else grabbed Pelton before he could pull his, and a
couple of store cops got all the other Literates in the office
covered. Then Bayne put on the general-address system and began
calling out the Literates--"