"That chap hasn't a chance," Carver remarked. "It's a miracle he's stayed alive this long. Shock alone, to say nothing of the depth and extent of the wound--" "You'll see," Fred said. The village had suddenly come awake. Men and women, gray-skinned, knobby-headed, looked silently as the hunters marched toward the medicine hut. The Sweeper paused to watch. The village's only child stood before his parents' hut, and, thumb in mouth, stared at the procession. Deg, the medicine man, came out to meet the hunters, already wearing his ceremonial mask. The healing dancers assembled, quickly putting on their makeup. "Think you can fix him, Doc?" Fred asked. "One may hope," Deg replied piously. They entered the dimly lighted medicine hut. The wounded Lorayan was laid tenderly upon a pallet of grasses and the dancers began to perform before him. Deg started a solemn chant. "That'll never do it," Professor Carver pointed out to Fred, with the interested air of a man watching a steam shovel in operation. "Too late for faith healing. Listen to his breathing. Shallower, don't you think?" "Absolutely," Fred said. Deg finished his chant and bent over the wounded hunter. The Lorayan's breathing was labored. It slowed, hesitated.... "It is time!" cried the medicine man. He took a small wooden tube out of his pouch, uncorked it, and held it to the dying man's lips. The hunter drank. And then-- Carver blinked, and Fred grinned triumphantly. The hunter's breathing was becoming stronger. As they watched, the great gash became a line of scar tissue, then a thin pink mark, then an almost invisible white line. The hunter sat up, scratched his head, grinned foolishly and asked for something to drink, preferably intoxicating. Deg declared a festival on the spot. * * * * * Carver and Fred moved to the edge of the rain-forest for a conference. The professor walked like a man in a dream. His pendulous lower lip was thrust out and occasionally he shook his head. "How about it?" Fred asked. "It shouldn't be possible," said Carver dazedly. "No substance in nature should react like that. And you saw it work last night also?" "Damned well right," Fred said. "They brought in this hunter--he had his head pulled half off. He swallowed some of that stuff and healed right before my eyes." "Man's age-old dream," Carver mused. "A universal panacea!" "We could get any price for stuff like that," Fred said. "Yes, we could--as well as performing a duty to science," Professor Carver reminded him sternly. "Yes, Fred, I think we should obtain some of that substance." They turned and, with firm strides, marched back to the village.