I promised to let you know how we fared. And here is the tale, if you can piece it together. And I suppose you can, for you always liked to monkey around with words. (From this distance, I would say that putting words together has been both the curse and the blessing of your entire life.) I fear that I cannot understand Ato's and Wolden's talk. But let me put it this way. We traveled fast and furiously through space. And all the while, Father Time was laughing at us. You will remember how Grim Hagen aged on Aldebaran while we sped after him in what seemed to be only a few weeks. Well, if we left in The Nebula now and plunged back to earth we would arrive there two hundred years from the day that we took off. And from what I saw of your civilization at the last, I have no desire to see it two hundred years later. Bewildering, isn't it? Nea always said that we would have to use new concepts and develop new mores if we ever conquered space. She was right. Theoretically, you are gone and forgotten for two centuries. And yet, Wolden assures me that he can deliver this to you in short order. Therefore, time does not exist as we know it. Or is it a river that can be navigated? Our home is finished. Maya and I are happy. This is a peaceful planet. Val's people are philosophers. They only fought out of desperation. My sword and Gunnar's are growing rusty upon the wall. I have a small office now, and will probably end up as a country doctor. The two ships are still out there on the plain. Our children, if they wish, can man them and go out into space. But as far as we are concerned we go no more a-hunting. The notes that I am sending you are fairly complete. It is nearly midnight and the fire is burning low. Maya is nodding beside me. So--happy at last--parsecs away and years away--I wish my old friend a hearty fare-thee-well--and IT IS A TALE THAT IS TOLD. Best wishes, Jack Odin, M. D. THE END TRANSCRIBER'S NOTES This etext was produced from Amazing Science Fiction Stories May 1960. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. The following corrections have been made to the text: Page 48: Both hands of the clock were pointing upward{original had uward}. Page 51: Rolling the knapsack up into a ball and tying it securely{original had securly}, he threw it over the brink. Page 52: The spurt of a match showed him his miner's cap{original had cape} not five feet away. Page 55: Even though we go farther than the graveyard of stars--or beyond the gates of hell, maybe--I will find her."{original omitted quotation mark} Page 59: We know now that Grim Hagen and his ship, with all his prisoners and loot, took off from the bed of the sea with a flourish which was just like Grim Hagen{original had Hagin}.