In the starboard bunk Pat lay sleeping quietly. A light breeze from the port floated a wisp of hair and dropped it back on her forehead with each lift of the bow. I bent over and kissed her gently on the mouth. She smiled faintly in her sleep and her arms came up around my neck as she began to wake up. I disengaged them gently. "Go back to sleep darling. It's not time for your watch yet." I straightened the covers over her, and went into the tiny galley. The coffee was hot and the eggs I had set on the stove previously were boiling. I sat down to eat. The benzedrine I had taken to keep me going all through the night was wearing off. I could feel the faint quivering of fatigue in my arms and legs. My eyes were dry and burning a little. In two or three hours I could wake Pat and get some sleep myself. In the meantime all I had to do was to steer the sloop north, towards one of our favorite islands, a small, uninhabited, rock and tree covered hump where we could be alone to rest and relax. And as I ate quickly and quietly, as I cleaned up the dishes and went back on deck, the words of Dr. Hallam kept running through my head like a squirrel through a maze, darting and searching for the answer. "Only the Chinese are dying as individuals, but I fear we are dying--as a nation!" I had sat there, flabbergasted, my mouth open like a moron, the incredible statement echoing through the suddenly empty chambers of my brain. "The ferret...." Pat spoke through the horror-stiffened fingers that clawed at her mouth. Her eyes stared widely at the deliberately composed features of the director. "Yes, my dear ... the ferret." "Oh, no.... Oh, God no ... not now!" It was not a cry of anguish for the world but something personal, deeper, a cry of despair. "What's all the fuss about?" I said crossly. "I don't get it." I turned to Pat. "What're you having a hissy about?" Hallam looked at me with patient resignation. "If you were a woman you'd be having a hissy too, as you call it." "That's her word for it sir," I said. "If you two are all up in the air because a ferret has an abortion I can't see why. There are plenty of diseases that affect animals differently to man. What about undulant fever? It causes abortion in cattle but doesn't affect pregnant women any more than many other serious diseases do. So a ferret drops its kittens! So it might have done it equally with any other high fever." "You're quite right John," Hallam said, "but remember, this is no ordinary disease. This is a secret weapon and, if it does cause miscarriages and perhaps permanent damage to the ovaries, the result will be a catastrophe for the West." "Doggone it, Chief, if you'll pardon my saying so, you're getting positively paranoid about this whole business. We haven't a shred of real evidence so far."