o not understand." For a
second, the old priest frowned as if he was contemplating mysteries that
lay afar. Then his smile came back and he was rising to his feet. "Come
with me, my son."

* * * * *

As they moved from the big room, Ulnar grunted hastily and gestured
toward the wall slit. Looking through it, Parker saw a speedy craft
moving inside the veil--a PT boat. His heart jumped at the thought that
the Navy had finally penetrated the secret of this strange island. His
heart sank when he saw that even if this was a PT boat, it was not a
Navy ship. The craft was dirty, unkempt, it was not the smart, spick and
span vessel that the Navy would operate.

As he watched, the boat veered abruptly, slowed, almost came to a halt
as if its occupants had suddenly discovered the presence of the island.

Ulnar shook his fist at the boat. "_Vondel me sego!_" he said.

"No, no, Ulnar," Rozeno spoke hastily. "You must not _vondel_ them. They
are just some people who have stumbled through the veil and now are
bewildered."

"Me make 'em more frightened," the Indian spoke. He brought one fist
down into the other fist, a smacking sound.

"What is _vondel_?" Parker spoke.

Rozeno seemed not to hear him. The priest was already moving from the
room.

"We do not know who cut these passages here," Rozeno said. "We do not
know who cut these rooms into the rock. Some race that lived a long,
long time ago--perhaps the legendary Murians, perhaps some other
race--had this island as an outpost. I think, also, they used it as a
scientific laboratory; a dangerous laboratory that they put far away
from their homeland. A place where their wise men--their
philosophers--could seek out the mysteries of nature."

"Um," Parker said. There was cold in him. He tried to force it away,
discovered it would not go.

"There is something else that is very strange about this island," the
priest continued. "Time is different here."

"How is time different?"

"In this way," Rozeno answered. "I came to the New World with Cortez."

"I see," Parker said.

"You take it very calmly."

"I do not doubt my own eyes nor do I doubt you."

The old priest glowed. "Good. Good. Tell me, my son, are there many men
like you in the world of today? I have a dream, a secret private dream,
that the scientists from your world might come here and study the
strange things on this island."

"They would come here in droves if they knew