r one, had
no intention of prowling about in the blackness.

While they waited, Scotty asked, "What happened to you, Rick?"

Rick hesitated. He couldn't give an adequate account of what he had
experienced during the recent hours. Or was it weeks? He summed it up.
"After we got separated, I couldn't find you again. I wandered around.
Then I sat down in a big cave and fell asleep. When I woke, there was a
Tibetan with a candle. I followed him to a boat landing, slugged him,
and rowed across the lake. He's waiting, tied up, across the lake at the
spot from where I fired. How about you?"

"We look for you," Chahda said. "We look a long time, and almost get
lost ourself."

"Finally we decided we'd better push on and find Long Shadow," Scotty
continued. "We tracked the drippings from the candles for hours. It was
slow work. Then, while we were resting, we got jumped from behind. They
didn't even have to bother about lights, because one of our flashlights
was on, and it was getting so weak we couldn't see more than ten feet.
They came out of the darkness with a rush and there we were. They made
us walk to the boat landing, called the boats from here, and brought us
over. We've been sitting in one of those tents for hours. You know the
rest."

How rapidly they could cover the tortured hours of travel in a few
words, Rick thought. But he said only, "I'm glad we're all together
again."

"How you see in dark?" Chahda asked.

Rick explained briefly. The Hindu boy chuckled. "Plenty mystery for one
who not know, you bet! I scared myself, like the men who ran."

Then Zircon came back. He brought out matches and in a moment torches
were blazing again. They bandaged the two enemies as best they could,
using clean handkerchiefs which Chahda and Scotty carried. And Rick got
his first good look at Long Shadow's face.

The man was incredibly thin. His skin was stretched over the bones of
his face like parchment, and it had a sallow ivory tinge even in the
ruddy torchlight. His eyes were black, with just the faintest hint of a
Mongoloid fold.

"Are you a Eurasian?" Rick asked bluntly.

"Yes." Long Shadow smiled. "I'm one quarter Burmese. The other
three-quarters doesn't matter."

"You know our names," Rick said. "I'm sure you do. But we don't know
yours."

Long Shadow laughed. "You could never pronounce my Burmese name and the
other name I use is of no importance."

Zircon and the others had been listening. Now the scienti