"Not Ruddle--Roodles, _Roodles_. _Oo_ as is Gooseface. And how could I have taken the camera from you when you've just returned? You're dithering, McCarney--I don't like ditherers. Stop it!" McCarthy shook his head, forbearing to correct the mispronunciation of his name. He began to feel a vague, gnawing wish that he had never started this combination merry-go-round and slap-happy fun-house. "Look, prof, sit down." He spread a great hand against the little man's chest, forcing him into a chair. "We're gonna have another talk. I gotta bring you up to date." Fifteen minutes later, he was winding up. "So this character says he'll wait until I get back with the note. If you want a wife, don't give me the note and he'll move the rock. I don't care one way or t'other, myself. I just want to get out of here!" Professor Ruddle (Guggles? Roodles?) closed his eyes. "My," he gasped. Then he shuddered. "Married. To that--battle-axe! That st-steady skirt! _No!_ McCarney--or McCarthy--listen! You must go back. I'll give you a note--another check--here!" He tore a page from his notebook, filled it rapidly with desperate words. Then he made out another check. McCarthy glanced at the slips. "'Nother bank," he remarked wonderingly. "This time The Southern Peanut Trust Company. I hope all these different checks are gonna be good." "Certainly," the professor assured him loudly. "They will all be good. You go ahead and take care of this matter, and we'll settle it to everybody's satisfaction when you return. You tell this other McCarney that--" "McCarthy. _Hey!_ What do you mean--'this other McCarney?' I'm the only McCarthy--only _Gooseneck_ McCarthy, anyway. If you send a dozen different guys out to do the same job...." "I didn't send anyone but you. Don't you understand what happened? You went back into the Cretaceous to move a rock. You returned to the present--and, as you say, found me in somewhat unfortunate circumstances. You returned to the past to undo the damage, to _approximately_ the same spot in space and time as before--it could not be exactly the same spot because of a multitude of unknown factors and because of the inescapable errors in the first time machine. Very well. You--we'll call you You I--meet You II at the very moment You II is preparing to move the rock. You stop him. If you hadn't, if he hadn't been interrupted in any way and had shifted that stone, he would have been You I. But because he--or rather you--didn't, he is slightly different from you, being a You who has merely made one trip into the past and not even moved the rock. Whereas you--You I--have made two trips, have both moved the rock yourself and prevented yourself from moving it. It's really very simple, isn't it?" McCarthy stroked his chin and sucked in a great gasp of air. "Yeah," he mumbled wildly. "Simple ain't the word for it!"