"It's only the beginning," said Naito. "We can do these few cheap tricks you've seen, but they're only exercises in control. We are still learning. Some day we--or more likely our descendants--will be able to control most of the entropy of the universe. By willing it, we will be able to halt the explosion of a star, change the orbit of the moon, reverse the tides. Then, more important, we can freeze a soldier's bullet in his rifle before he fires it, and we can keep any nuclear bomb ever from exploding. Then we can make order. Then we can properly control mankind itself, and give it the order it has sought so long. Now you know why I am here, and what I am trying to do." "You're not really so different, then, are you?" said Blair. "I beg your pardon?" "Never mind. I have to leave now. It doesn't matter." Naito looked at him with a dark, porcelain eye. "I sense in you an enemy, Mr. Blair." "Yes," said Blair. "Perhaps you're right." Naito looked about, glancing at some of the others strolling about the shrine. For a moment Blair thought the man would try to forcibly detain him. Blair stiffened himself and hardened his muscles; magic or no magic, the old bald fellow would have a scrap on his hands if he tried any kind of violence. Naito then said abruptly, "But not a powerful enemy, Mr. Blair. You will make fun of us in your newspaper article, I suppose. But it won't really change anything. You may as well leave now, if you are so anxious to go. Yuki will take you down the mountain again." "Thank you for your time and trouble," said Blair, stiffly, politely. Again he was on the trail, descending, and the shrine and the mountain top were moving back into the blueness of the sky. The girl walked a little ahead. He watched her for a while, still admiring her, and presently he spoke. "He knew what I meant," he said. She turned her head slightly. "Naito-san?" "Yes. Of course I don't believe any of his double-talk--but if I did, I would be his enemy. He saw that." "Why would you be his enemy?" "Because he is a tyrant." "Naito-san? A tyrant? That is a bad ruler, is it not--a tyrant? Naito-san is not like this." "But he is. Every tyrant that ever lived began with the hope of controlling mankind for its own good. For what _he_ decided was its own good." "I don't know," said Yuki. "I don't understand all you say." "How long have you been with Naito?" "Since I was a child. He took me when my parents died. He has been like a father. He says I must learn, always learn more. He says my life is important." Blair moved forward suddenly. He took the girl's slim shoulder, and turned her toward him. He stood there, in the middle of the steep trail, with the tall grasses and embroidered shadows beside it, held her thus, and looked down into her young, golden face.