XIV HAVATOO They were all very polite and pleasant, very professional and efficient. First we were bathed; then blood tests were made, our hearts examined, our blood pressure taken, our reflexes checked. After that we were ushered into a large room where five men sat behind a long table. Ero Shan accompanied us throughout the examination. Like the others, he was always pleasant and friendly. He encouraged us to hope that we would pass the examination successfully. Even yet I did not understand what it was all about. I asked Ero Shan. "Your companion remarked upon the beauty of Havatoo and its people," he replied. "This examination is the explanation of that beauty--and of many other things here which you do not yet know of." The five men seated behind the long table were quite as pleasant as any of the others we had met. They questioned us rapidly for fully an hour and then dismissed us. From the questions propounded I judged that one of them was a biologist, another a psychologist, one a chemist, the fourth a physicist, and the fifth a soldier. "Korgan Sentar Ero Shan," said he who appeared to be the head of the examining board, "you will take custody of the man until the result of the examination is announced. Hara Es will take charge of the girl." He indicated a woman who had entered the room with us and had been standing beside Nalte. The latter pressed closer to me. "Oh, Carson! They are going to separate us," she whispered. I turned toward Ero Shan to expostulate, but he motioned me to be silent. "You will have to obey," he said, "but I think you have no reason to worry." Then Nalte was led away by Hara Es, and Ero Shan took me with him. A car was waiting for Ero Shan, and in it we were driven into a district of beautiful homes. Presently the car drew up in front of one of these and stopped. "This is my home," said my companion. "You will be my guest here until the result of the examination is announced. I wish you to enjoy yourself while you are with me. Do not worry; it will do no good. Nalte is safe. She will be well cared for." "At least they have provided me with a beautiful prison and a pleasant jailer," I remarked. "Please do not think of yourself as a prisoner," begged Ero Shan. "It will make us both unhappy, and unhappiness is not to be tolerated in Havatoo." "I am far from unhappy," I assured him. "On the contrary, I am greatly enjoying the experience, but I still cannot understand what crime is charged against Nalte and me that we should have been put on trial for our lives." "It was not you who were on trial; it was your heredity," he explained. "An answer," I assured him, "that leaves me as much at sea as I was before." * * * * *