"_Por supuesto_," said Horta's voice cheerfully. "Are we not _amigos_? What is the prediction and who should know?" "The prediction," said Terry doggedly, anticipating disbelief and protest, "is that at twelve minutes after nine o'clock tonight a large meteorite will fall into the sea where--hmm--where _La Rubia_ catches her fish. No, you'd better not locate it that way. I'll give you the position." Davis, standing by, wrote the position in latitude and longitude and handed it to him. He read it into the transmitter. "Have you got it?" he demanded. "Is it written down?" "Ah, yes," said Horta tranquilly. "I will see that they make a memorandum of the matter. Shall I tell three or four persons, or more? I have news for you also. Jimenez...." "Look here!" said Terry sharply. "I want this thing to be past all doubt! Everybody who's ever been worried about _La Rubia_ should know about this! There should be no possible doubt about it! But there should be disbelief, so people who don't believe will try to verify that it didn't happen, so they can crow over the people who thought it would, or might." "Ah!" said Horta. "You wish you stick out the neck! It is serious! Now tell me again!" "At twelve minutes after nine tonight," said Terry doggedly, "A shooting star will fall into the sea at...." He named the latitude and longitude Davis had given him. "That is where _La Rubia_ catches her fish." "A shooting star will fall there?" protested Horta. "But who knows where they fall?" "You do," said Terry. "This one, anyhow. Now, will you see that a number of people know about it?" "It is cr-azy!" objected Horta. Then he said, "I will do it." The short-wave call ended, with Horta too much disturbed to refer again to Jimenez. By sunset Doug had gotten out the gun-cameras. Doug held an impromptu class on deck, showing the other crew-cuts exactly how to aim the cameras and expose the films, and what button to press to change film automatically between shots. He was unhappy because he did not know how bright the object to be photographed would be, for his lens-settings. He was even more unhappy because the bolide might travel at practically any angular velocity, so he didn't know how to set the shutters. But the focus would be infinity, and if he used the fastest possible film, he could stop most motion with a hundredth second exposure. Instead of reaching Thrawn Island shortly after sunset, then, the _Esperance_ was back above the place where the dredge had been dropped and the bathyscaphe wrecked. The _Pelorus_ was gone. The people on board that ship must have been very upset. The bathyscaphe had cost more money than is usually allotted to most scientific researchers, and now it was smashed. How would they justify themselves? They could hardly blame the _Esperance_.