cotty was probably right. What basis did he have for
mistrusting the charming little Egyptian merchant? Certainly Bartouki
had been nice to them, so carrying the cat to Egypt had been only common
courtesy.

Experience had shown Rick that very often he could get ideas from
reviewing conversations. He walked away from Hassan and Scotty and
stared at the construction details of the antenna. But he wasn't really
looking. Instead, he was trying to recall the entire scene leading up to
his acceptance of the cat.

Bartouki had explained its importance. He had said it was needed. Now,
what had led Barby to offer Rick's services as a messenger? The merchant
had said that he was anxious to get it to Egypt, but that the Christmas
mails were crowded. The Christmas mails ... that didn't seem like much
of a reason for not sending it by air freight. Bartouki could have
delivered it personally to Idlewild Terminal, to avoid getting it mixed
up with the domestic mail....

"I've got it!" he yelled. He hurried over and stood in front of Scotty
and Hassan. "Listen, who sends mail at Christmas time?"

Scotty's brows wrinkled. "Everyone, I guess."

"Not everyone." Rick warmed to his idea. "There are plenty of people who
wait until the last few days before Christmas, but where are they? In
America! Anyone overseas who sends a package home tries to get it in the
mail early. Wouldn't you say so?"

"Maybe they should, but I suspect they don't. People are always waiting
until the last moment."

"But is the overseas airmail so crowded you wouldn't trust a parcel to
the regular mail system?"

Scotty shook his head. "I doubt it. What are you getting at?"

But Rick had an even better argument to bolster the case he was
developing. "Christmas mail is to and from Christians, isn't it? Sure!
Egypt is a Moslem country. Moslems don't send Christmas cards or
presents, and they don't get them, either. The Christians in Egypt are
Coptic--anyway, they don't celebrate Christmas the same way. So why
would the airmail to Egypt be jammed?"

Hassan spoke up. "It not so heavy. My brother is letter carrier, and he
no work very hard on _Nasrani_ holiday. Nasrani is what we call
Christian."

"I think you've got something," Scotty agreed. "Bartouki could have
mailed the cat, but for some reason he wanted a messenger ..."

"... and we walked right into it," Rick finished. "Chances are that's
why he showed us the cat in the first place."

"Barby had the