lton was plainly baffled. "I just don't
remember. Something about when a guy threw his tray.... You got me, I
don't know."

"All right." The psychologist tried another tack. "What made you leave
the others and take Clarens with you?"

"I didn't take him with me." Dalton's voice was weary, edged with
anger. "I remember sitting down under the hypno-hood in The Cage.
From there on, things are mixed up. I think there was running and
yelling and that I ran and yelled, too.

"Then I came to and I was in a building with a lot of guys grabbing
guns."

"I should have predicted it," the psychologist said, "that he would be
commanded to forget what he had been told while under the hood."

"Can't you remove the block?" Chief Scott had returned in time to hear
the last words.

Thornberry pursed his lips, then said, "It would take a very long
time. Remember, I know Judkins, I interviewed him and watched him work
before we hired him. He is a very, very good hypno-tech. And there's
no machine anywhere near except at the prison.

"Let's hear the rest of his story. Go on, Dalton."

"You know my record, guns aren't for me. So I looked around and saw a
busted window. This Clarens and another guy--a big fat one--had sort
of stuck with me. I guess they didn't like guns either. When I went
out the window, they were right behind. Clarens and I ran real fast.
The fat guy behind us tried to run as fast, but he wheezed too much.

"Somebody lying on the edge of the moat cut loose with a subgun and
Big Belly went down. Then Clarens and I were in the water. The other
cons back in the building started shooting at the guy with the subgun.
I guess he got too busy ducking to give us any more attention. Anyhow,
he didn't swing any tracers after us.

"We ran across a couple of fields, toward Duncannon, and spotted a guy
pulling a delivery truck into a farm lane. We sneaked in, found a
wrench. When the driver came back, I gave him a gentle tap. Clarens
and I stripped the fellow, tied him up and shoved him in one of the
big baskets in the truck.

"In the uniform, it was a cinch to fool the troopers. They stopped us
only once on the way into town. When we got there, I switched again
from the driver's uniform into one of the suits from the racks. We had
it made, hands down."

"Why didn't you turn Clarens in when you gave yourself up?" Scott
demanded angrily.

"I tried to. Remember, I didn't know who the guy was until after we
had looked in t