by the name of Perfidion was residing behind that
hardware--not the good Sir Launcelot."

"Perfidion?"

Mallory grinned. "Sir Jason Perfidion--a knight errant ye wit not of.
But the tournament's not over yet, and this time _I've_ got the
rabbit: he thinks I'm dead."

"He ... he left ye for dead, fair sir?"

"That he did, and if that little brain-buster of his had struck just
one inch to the right, I'd have been just that." He shoved his empty
vacuum tin away and stood up. "Excuse me a minute--I've got to visit
the sorcerer's tower again."

In the control room, he took the _Yore_ back to 7:20 p.m. of the same
day and re-materialized it half a mile farther down the valley.
Turning, he saw that Rowena had followed him and was watching him from
the doorway. "Whereabouts may I find oats that I may feed thy horse,
fair knight?" she asked.

"Easy Money doesn't eat. He--" Mallory paused astonished as two of the
largest tears he had ever seen coalesced in her eyes and went tumbling
down her cheeks. "Oh, it's not that he's sick," he rushed on. "It's
just that horses like him don't require food to keep them going. Why,
Easy Money's guaranteed for ... he'll live another thirty years."

The sun came up beyond the plum-blue horizons of her eyes. "It
pleaseth me mickle to hear ye speak thus, fair knight. I ... I have
great joy of him."

Back in the rec-hall, Mallory pulled on his gauntlets, reset his
timepiece, and donned his helmet. The left audio-amplifier was shot,
but otherwise the piece was in good condition--aside from the dent, of
course. He encephalopathed Easy Money to his side, hung his shield
around his neck, and mounted. "Hand me my spear, will you, Rowena?" he
asked.

She did so. "Ye be a most noble knight indeed, fair sir," she said,
"for to set so little store by thine own life in the service of a
damosel the which is undeserving of thy deeds. I ... I would lever
that ye forsook the Sangraal than that ye be fordone."

Her concern touched him, and he removed his helmet and leaned down and
kissed her on the forehead. "Keep the home fires burning," he said;
then, setting his helmet back in place, he activated the lock, rode
across the mirage-moat, and set forth into the forest once again.

V

This time when he reached the crest of the ridge that separated the
two valleys, Mallory took an azimuth on the towers of Carbonek,
encephalo-fed the direction to Easy Money, and programmed the "animal"
to proceed