ng up every available square foot of basement
space, but now he knew that whatever it was which had taken up so much
of Uncle Averill's time could fit in the odd-looking steamer trunk in
the center of the floor and thus wasn't too much bigger than a good-size
TV set. He walked slowly to the trunk and stood for a few moments over
the lid. It was an ancient-looking steamer: Uncle Averill must have
owned it since his own youth. Still, just a plain trunk.

Danny was in no hurry to open the lid, which did not seem to be locked.
For a few moments, at least, he could shield himself from further
disappointment--because now he had a hunch that Uncle Averill's machine
was going to be a first-class dud. Maybe, he thought gloomily, Uncle
Averill had simply not liked to be with people and had used the ruse of
a bank-vault door and an empty steamer trunk to achieve privacy whenever
he felt the need for it.

Remembering the history class, Danny decided that--after all--sometimes
that wasn't a bad idea. Finally, he called himself a fool for waiting
and threw up the trunk-lid.

A small case was all he saw inside, although the interior of the trunk
was larger than he had expected. A man could probably curl up in there
quite comfortably. But the case--the case looked exactly like it ought
to house a tape-recorder.

Danny reached in and hauled out the case. It was heavy, about as heavy
as a tape-recorder ought to be. Danny placed it down on the floor and
opened it.

What he saw was a battery-powered tape-recorder. His disappointment
increased: Uncle Averill had left a message for him, that was all.
Dutifully, however, he set the spools and snapped on the switch.

A voice from yesterday--Uncle Averill's voice--spoke to him.

* * * * *

"Hallo, Danny," it said. "The way the years roll by, I forget exactly
how old you are, boy. Seventeen? Eighteen? Twenty? Well, it doesn't
matter--if you still believe. If you have faith. Faith in what? Maybe
now you're old enough to know. I mean faith in--not having faith. That
is, faith in not taking faithfully all the silly items of knowledge
they try to cram down your throat in school. See what I mean? Remember
what I always said about history, Danny: you get propaganda, is all,
from the winning side. If you got faith enough in yourself, Danny, faith
enough not to believe everything the history books tell you, that's the
kind of faith I mean. Because such a faith gav