u must go
among your people and tell them what madness they are doing, and command
them to stop. You must command them to lay down their arms and cease
fighting. And you must tell them of the awful curse that was put upon
the Terrans in the long-ago time, for a lesser sin than they are now
committing."

"If we say that Mailsh Heelbare told us this, the people may not believe
us. He is not known to all, and some would take no Terran's word, not
even his."

"Would anybody tell a secret of this sort, about his own people, if it
were not real?"

"We had better say nothing about Mailsh Heelbare. We will say that the
Gone Ones told us in dreams."

"Let us say that the Great Spirit sent a dream of warning to each of
us," another shoonoo said. "There has been too much talk about dreams
from the Gone Ones already."

"But the Great Spirit has never sent a dream--"

"Nothing like this has ever happened before, either."

He rose, and they were silent. "Go to your living-place, now," he told
them. "Talk of how best you may warn your people." He pointed to the
clock. "You have an oomphel like that in your living-place; when the
shorter spear has moved three places, I will speak with you again, and
then you will be sent in air cars to your people to speak to them."

They went up the escalator and down the hall to Miles' office on the
third floor without talking. Foxx Travis was singing softly, almost
inaudibly:

_"You will eeeeat ... in the sweeeet ... bye-and-bye,
You'll get oooom ... phel in the sky ... when you die!"_

Inside, Edith Shaw slumped dispiritedly in a chair. Foxx Travis went to
the coffee-maker and started it. Miles snapped on the communication
screen and punched the combination of General Maith's headquarters. As
soon as the uniformed girl who appeared in it saw him, her hands moved
quickly; the screen flickered, and the general appeared in it.

"We have it made, general. They're sold; we're ready to start them out
in three hours."

Maith's thin, weary face suddenly lighted. "You mean they are going to
co-operate?"

He shook his head. "They think they're saving the world; they think
we're co-operating with them."

The general laughed. "That's even better! How do you want them sent
out?"

"The ones in the Bluelake area first. Better have some picked K.N.I. in
native costume, with pistols, to go with them. They'll need protection,
till they're able to get a hearing for themselves. After they'