Presently in the council room were gathered Delgaun and the outlanders, Kynon and his bright-haired queen--and no other Martians but those three. Kynon sprawled out in the high seat at the head of the table. His face was beaming. He wiped the sweat off it, and then filled a goblet with wine, looking around the room with his bright blue eyes. "Fill up, gentlemen. I'll give you a toast." He lifted the goblet. "Here's to the secret of the Ramas, and the gift of life!" Stark put down his goblet, still empty. He stared directly at Kynon. "You have no secret," said Stark deliberately. Kynon sat perfectly still, except that, very slowly, he put his own goblet down. Nobody else moved. Stark's voice sounded loud in the stillness. "Furthermore," he said, "that demonstration in the square was a lie from beginning to end." IV Stark's words had the effect of an electric shock on the listeners. Delgaun's black brows went up, and the woman came forward a little to stare at the Earthman with profound interest. Kynon asked a question, of nobody in particular. "Who," he demanded, "is this great black ape?" Delgaun told him. "Ah, yes," said Kynon. "Eric John Stark, the wild man from Mercury." He scowled threateningly. "Very well--explain how I lied in the square!" "Certainly. First of all, the Earth boy was a prisoner. He was told what he had to do to save his neck, and then was carefully coached in his part. Secondly, the crystal rod and the crowns are a fake. You used a simple Purcell unit in the rod to produce an electronic brush discharge. That made the blue light. Thirdly, you gave the old man poison, probably by means of a sharp point on the crown. I saw him wince when you put it on him." Stark paused. "The old man died. The boy went through his sham. And that was that." Again there was a flat silence. Luhar crouched over the table, his face avid with hope. The woman's eyes dwelt on Stark and did not turn away. Then, suddenly, Kynon laughed. He roared with it until the tears ran. "It was a good show, though," he said at last. "Damned good. You'll have to admit that. The crowd swallowed it, horns, hoofs and hide." He got up and came round to Stark, clapping him on the shoulder, a blow that would have laid a lesser man flat. "I like you, wild man. Nobody else here had the guts to speak out, but I'll give you odds they were all thinking the same thing." Stark said, "Just where were you, Kynon, during those years you were supposed to be suffering alone in the desert?" "Curious, aren't you? Well, I'll let you in on a secret." Kynon lapsed abruptly into perfectly good colloquial English. "I was on Terra, learning about things like the Purcell electronic discharge." Reaching over, he poured wine for Stark and held it out to him. "Now you know. Now we all know. So let's wash the dust out of our throats and get down to business." Stark said, "No." Kynon looked at him. "What now?"