encephalopathed the
other rohorse to follow. He left his broken weapons where they lay.

What had gone out of the world during the last sixteen hundred years
that had left sophisticated twenty-second century steel inferior in
quality to naive sixth-century wrought iron? What did Sir Galahad have
that he, Mallory, lacked? Mallory shook his head. He did not know.

The moonlit "towers" of the _Yore_ had become visible through the
trees before it occurred to him that before riding away the man just
might have removed the Sangraal from the black rohorse's croup. At
first thought, such a possibility was too absurd to be entertained,
but not on second thought. According to _Le Morte d'Arthur_, the
fellowship of Sir Galahad, Sir Percivale, and Sir Bors had taken both
the table of silver and the Sangraal to Sarras where, some time later,
the Sangraal had been "borne up to heaven", never to be seen again.
Whether they had taken the table of silver did not concern Mallory,
but what did concern him was the fact that if they had taken the
Sangraal they could have done so only if it had fallen into Sir
Galahad's hands this very night. Tomorrow would be too late--now was
too late, in fact--provided, of course, that Mallory was destined to
return with it to the twenty-second century. Here, then, was the
crossroads, the real moment of truth: was he destined to succeed, or
wasn't he?

Hurriedly, he encephalopathed the two rohorses to halt, dismounted,
and raised the black rohorse's trappings. He was dizzy from the loss
of blood, but he did not let his dizziness dissuade him from his
purpose, and he had the croup-hood raised in a matter of a few
seconds. He held his breath when he looked within, expelled it with
relief. The Sangraal had not been disturbed.

He lifted it out of the croup-compartment, straightened its red samite
covering, and cradled it in his arms. Too weak to remount Easy Money,
he encephalopathed the two rohorses to follow and began walking toward
the _Yore_. Rowena must have seen him coming on one of the
telewindows, for she had the lock open when he arrived. Her face went
white when she looked at him, and when she saw the Grail, her eyes
grew even larger than plums. He went over and set it gently down on
the rec-hall table, then he collapsed into a nearby chair. He had just
enough presence of mind left to send her for the bottle of
blood-restorer pills, and just enough strength left to swallow several
of them whe