I groaned. "Every tribe has strange customs. When the baby comes, that's when they'll insist on a husband." "I wonder who it really is." "Unfortunately we can't prove anything by giving the baby a blood test. These primitives wouldn't understand." "Proofs are out," Campbell said. "However, we still have the eyelash test," I suggested. "You mean--" "I mean that you and I are the only two human animals on this planet with eyebrows and eyelashes. When Omosla's baby arrives without a trace of an eyelash, that might go a long way toward convincing--" "You'll help me fight it, then?" "If you're sure you don't want to change your mind, throw out the Code, and claim the girl." A look of disdain was all the answer Campbell gave me, at first. Finally he said, "You'd had ample reasons for nicknaming me Split, Captain. But so far, I've given you no grounds for applying the term to my personality. I prefer to remain a member of EGGWE, in good standing, and to return to Earth with a clear record. Let Omosla name the true father, whoever he is." 8. The whole Benzendella tribe made its way across to the Kao-Wagwattl with only one casualty reported. Leeger, the short, slight guard who had once been brutally knocked out by Gravgak, was reported missing. Everyone else came through without a scratch. It was a triumph for old Tomboldo. His superhuman courage had carried the day. Children were delighted over the adventure. Old folks were happy over achieving what they had feared would be an impossible undertaking. They could believe, now, that they would live all through to the end of the journey--for Kao-Wagwattl, the serpent river, was a legendary giver of life. Campbell did not come. That was according to plan. He kept in touch with me by radio through the final hours of the twenty-mile crossing. "... Do you read me, Captain? I've drawn them to the north with fire bombs from the ship's guns.... They've never guessed your course." "No signs of Gravgak? Or Leeger?" "Not a sign. The city's empty." "Keep on the radio, Campbell." "Right, Captain. By the way, how is Omosla?" "Expecting. I'll let you know. She still talks about the bravest man on the planet, someone named Campbell." "H-m-m. You'll sort of look after her, won't you?" It was two hours before dawn when the last of the tribe (Leeger excepted) gathered at the mountainside station to board Kao-Wagwattl. We waited for daylight. Strange smells filled our nostrils. Smells of wood fires, sparked to life by friction under the pressures of the crawling monster. Smells of rocks being ground to powder. Smells of the saccharine-sweet breathing from the pores of the thing itself, the giant Kao-Wagwattl.