forewarned I managed to hide my surprise as I reached for
the form.
“… A day. Payable in advance, of course.”
My hand stopped just short of the form.
‘ ‘A hundred in gold a day?” I said as carefully as I could.
“Skeeve!” Kalvin yipped in my ear. “Remember, you
were warned things were expensive here! This is a low-
priced hotel, remember?”
“Payable in advance,” the clerk confirmed.
I withdrew my hands from the desk.
“How much time do you want to spend looking for a
room, Skeeve?” the Djin continued desperately. “The cab
won’t be back until morning and it’s getting dark out. Do
you really want to walk these streets at night?”
I took a hundred in gold from my money belt and dropped
it on the desk, then started filling out the form.
“I assumed that each day is payable in advance, consid-
ering the interest rates,” I said calmly. “Oh, yes, I’d like
a receipt for that, as well.”
The desk clerk whisked the form from under my pen and
glanced at it almost before I had finished signing it.
“Quite right, Mr. . . Skeeve. I’ll have a receipt for you
in a moment.”
It was nice to know some Pervects were efficient, once
56 Robert Asprin
you had met their price. The hundred in gold had already
disappeared.
The desk clerk slipped the receipt across the desk, a key
held daintily in his other hand. I claimed the receipt and
was starting to go for the key when h& casually moved it
back out of my reach, slapping his palm down on a small
bell that was on the desk.
“Front!”
Before I could ask what this little declaration was sup-