"Hell, yes, it's hidden. Don't you think I know the score? I'd be beaten if necessary, for possession of that book." Beaten was an understatement. The next day, Rhodes had been imprisoned. His mistake, Gawroi thought coldly, was confiding in me. I was a fellow scientist, though, and men like Rhodes make much of the scientific fraternity. Well, I'm a scientist second, a Kedaki first. And now, this. Now Felg. Through Felg and with Felg, he could perhaps get to Matlin-Rhodes before the police. And make sure that the false _Book of the Dead_, and its forger, were not allowed to poison the minds of a whole people. He asked Felg, "Why didn't you go to the police?" "At first," Felg said, "I thought I would go to the police. There in Haatok, though, I changed my mind. Listen, Gawroi: I reasoned that if the police wanted him and you wanted him too, then your reason must be more than merely academic. And, while this Matlin spent the night in an Haatokian inn with the woman Haazahri, I told myself: Gawroi's the man for you. Go to Gawroi because neither your personal reason for hating Matlin, nor his, need bow before the will of the police. The police, capable but indifferent, might bungle. But Gawroi and yourself--" "That's enough," said Gawroi. "I see what you mean. Felg listen to me. If we do this thing together, if we join forces, my motives must never be questioned." "Nor mine." "Good. Very well, Felg. I hate this Matlin. And you--you want Matlin killed?" "Killed," echoed Felg. "One promise. He is not to be killed until he leads me to something." "Where? We can't be chasing all over Kedak." "In Balata 'kai, probably. That's why he went there." "Is he really an Earthman named Rhodes?" "I believe so. Does it matter?" "It doesn't matter to me. But it might matter to the police." "Exactly. You haven't told anyone else?" "No." "And the woman with Rhodes? Haazahri? What of her?" "You leave Haazahri to me," Felg said. Gawroi shook his hand, regretting the need for the Earth-style gesture which had swept the galaxy. He had an instinctive dislike for Felg, but thought Felg just the man to help him, just the man to join him at Balata 'kai, just the man to see to it that Matlin-Rhodes never returned to Junction City alive.... CHAPTER VIII Balata 'kai! Even the word was like heady wine. Balata 'kai! Where, five thousand years ago, civilization--and a lie--had been born on Kedak. Where now the ruins were ghostly in the early dawnlight, standing like grim sentinels against the still dark sky, silhouetted there on the limestone crag above the floor of the desert. "Would you believe it, Matlin," Haazahri said, "I'm a native of Junction City, but I've never seen the ruins of Balata 'kai?"