e in
and sit down, none of his old formality now in evidence.

"You have been a surprise package, Murdock." His observation had some
of the ring of the old Ashe, but there was no withdrawal behind the
words. "Rather a busy lad, weren't you, after you were bumped off into
that river?"

Ross's reply was a grimace. "You heard all about that!" He had no time
for his own adventures, already receding into a past which made them
both dim and unimportant. "What happened to you--and to the
project--and----"

"One thing at a time, and don't rush your fences." Ashe was surveying
him with an odd intentness which Ross could not understand. He continued
to explain in his "instructor" voice. "We made it down the river--how,
don't ask me. That was something of a 'project' in itself," he laughed.
"The raft came apart piece by piece, and we waded most of the last
couple of miles, I think. I'm none too clear on the details; you'll have
to get those out of McNeil, who was still among those present then.
Other than that, we cannot compete with your adventures. We built a
signal fire and sat by it toasting our shins for a few days, until the
sub came to collect us----"

"And took you off." Ross experienced a fleeting return of that hollow
feeling he had known on the shore when the still-warm coals of the
signal fire had told him the story of his too-late arrival.

"And took us off. But Kelgarries agreed to spin out our waiting period
for another twenty-four hours, in case you did manage to survive that
toss you took into the river. Then we sighted your spectacular display
of fireworks on the beach, and the rest was easy."

"The ship people didn't trace us back to post?"

"Not that we know of. Anyway, we've closed down the post on that time
level. You might be interested in a very peculiar tale our modern agents
have picked up, floating over and under the iron curtain. A blast went
off in the Baltic region of this time, wiping some installation clean
off the map. The Reds have kept quiet as to the nature of the explosion
and the exact place where it occurred."

"The aliens followed _them_ all the way up to this time!"--Ross half
rose from the chair--"But why? And why did they trail me?"

"That we can only guess. But I don't believe that they were moved by any
private vengeance for the looting of their derelict. There is some more
imperative reason why they don't want us to find or use anything from
one of their cargoes----"

"But