As I put the historic reports file in my brief case, Purdy handed me a letter from an investigator named Hilton, who had been working in the Southwest. I skimmed over his letter. Hilton had heard of some unusual night sightings in New Mexico. The story had been hushed up, but he had learned some details from a pilot at Albuquerque. One of these mysterious “flying lights” had been seen at Las Vegas, on December 8, 1948—just one month before Mantell was killed in Kentucky. It was too dark to make out the shape behind the light, but all witnesses had agreed on its performance. The thing had climbed at tremendous speed, its upward motion shown by a bright green light. Though the green glow was much brighter than a plane’s running light, all plane schedules were carefully checked. “I think they were trying to pin it on a jet fighter,” the Albuquerque pilot told Hilton. “But there weren’t any jets near there. Anyway, the thing climbed too fast. It must have been making close to nine hundred miles an hour.” The Air Force had also checked balloon release times—apparently just for the record, since no balloon could even approach the saucer’s terrific ascent. Again, they drew a blank. “From the way this was hushed up,” Hilton commented, “they seem to be worried about this group of sightings. I’ve heard two reports that the F.B.I. is tied into the deal somehow, but that’s as far as I can get.” “See if you can get any lead on that,” Purdy told me. “That F.B.I. business puzzles me. Where would they come in?” I said I would try to find out. But it was almost four months before we learned the answer: The F.B.I. men had been _witnesses_. (This was later admitted in an obscure cross-reference in the final Project “Saucer” report. But all official answers to the strange green-light sightings had been carefully omitted. The cases concerned were 223, 224, 225, 226, 227, 230, and 231, which will be discussed later.) “When you go back to Washington,” said Purdy, “see what reaction you get to the interplanetary idea.” I had a pretty good idea what the reaction would be, but I nodded. “O.K. I’ll go flag a space ship and be on my way.” “O.K.—gag it up,” said Purdy. “But don’t sell it short, If by any chance it’s true, it’ll be the biggest story since the birth of Christ.” CHAPTER VII It was dark when the airliner limousine reached La Guardia Field. I had intended taking an earlier plane, but DuBarry persuaded me to stay over for dinner. We dropped into the Algonquin, next door to _True’s_ office building. Halfway through dinner, I asked John what he thought of the space-travel answer. “Oh, it’s possible,” he said cautiously. “The time and space angles make it hard to take, but if we’re planning to explore space within fifty years, there’s no reason some other planet people couldn’t do it. Of course, if they’ve been observing us for over a century, as those old sightings seem to indicate, they must be far ahead of us, at least in technical progress.”