we saw hal the hawkman and mentioned the long lensman incident on the island and asked who the fellow with the grim demeanor and the long lens was and hal said oh, he's a northsider. ah, i knew it i said, i knew he was an alien. i told hal what the alien said about our friend mister.

hal said, did you tell him he's not a dog?

 yeah, why didn't i think of that?