ief case. "I was hoping somebody'd show up...."

Benson lit a cigarette, sipped his highball. They talked at
random--school-talk; the progress of the war, now in its twelfth year;
personal reminiscences, of the Turkish Theater where Benson had served,
and the Madras Beachhead, where Myers had been.

"Bring home any souvenirs?" Myers asked.

"Not much. Couple of pistols, couple of knives, some pictures. I don't
remember what all; haven't gotten around to unpacking them, yet.... I
have a sixth of rye and some beer, at my rooms. Let's go around and see
what I did bring home."

They finished their drinks and went out.

"What the devil's that?" Myers said, pointing to the cardboard box with
the envelope taped to it, when Benson lifted it out of the gray-green
locker.

"Bill, I don't know," Benson said. "I found it in the pocket of my coat,
on my way back from my last hunter patrol.... I've never told anybody
about this, before."

"That's the damnedest story I've ever heard, and in my racket you hear
some honeys," Myers said, when he had finished. "You couldn't have
picked that thing up in some other way, deliberately forgotten the
circumstances, and fabricated this story about the tank and the grenade
and the discrepancy in your watch subconsciously as an explanation?"

"My subconscious is a better liar than that," Benson replied. "It
would have cobbled up some kind of a story that would stand up. This
business...."

"Top Secret! For the Guide Only!" Myers frowned. "That isn't one of our
marks, and if it were Soviet, it'd be tri-lingual, Russian, Hindi and
Chinese."

"Well, let's see what's in it. I want this thing cleared up. I've been
having some of the nastiest dreams, lately...."

"Well, be careful; it may be booby-trapped," Myers said urgently.

"Don't worry; I will."

He used a knife to slice the envelope open without untaping it from the
box, and exposed five sheets of typewritten onion-skin paper. There was
no letterhead, no salutation or address-line. Just a mass of chemical
formulae, and a concise report on tests. It seemed to be a report on an
improved syrup for a carbonated soft-drink. There were a few cryptic
cautionary references to heightened physico-psychological effects.

The box was opened with the same caution, but it proved as innocent of
dangers as the envelope. It contained only a half-liter bottle,
wax-sealed, containing a dark reddish-brown syrup.

"There's a lot of this stuff I don