self to warn the Terrans--knowing perhaps nothing of
the matter which the Markovians were reluctant to expose.

If he could have done so gracefully, Cameron felt he would have turned
and gone back without bothering with the interview. His curiosity about
the Ids themselves had all but vanished. The answer to their situation
was obvious. And he had maintained such high hope that somehow his
expectation in them would be fulfilled during this visit.

There was a satisfying cleanliness apparent in everything as Sal Karone
led them to the largest of the buildings. Joyce seemed to be enjoying
herself as she surveyed the surroundings with an interest Cameron had
lost.

As they entered the doorway a thin, straight old man with a white beard
arose from a chair and approached them in greeting. The ancient,
conventional, patriarchal order, Cameron thought. He could see the whole
setup in a nutshell right now. Squalid communities like this where the
too-old and the too-young were nurtured on the calcified traditions to
which nothing was ever added. The able serving in the homes of the
Markovians, providing sustenance for themselves and those who depended
on them. The Markovians were generous indeed in not referring to the Ids
as slaves. There was little else they could ever be called.

The Chief was addressed as Venor by Sal Karone, who introduced them. "It
is kind of you to include our village in your visit to the Nucleus,"
said Venor. "There are many more spectacular things to see."

"There is often greatest wisdom in the least spectacular," said Cameron,
trying to sound like a sage. "Sal Karone was kind enough to invite us to
your center and said there was much you could show us."

"The things of the soul are not possible to _show_," said Venor gently.
"We wish there were time that we might teach you some of the great
things our people have learned in their long wanderings. I am told that
your profession and your purpose in being here is the study of races and
their actions and the things they have learned."

With a start, Cameron came to greater attention. He was certain he had
never given any such information in the presence of Sal Karone or
Marthasa. Yet even Venor knew he was a sociologist! Here was the first
knowledge that must lie behind the evidence of the undercurrent of
objections of the Markovian representative in the Council and Premier
Jargla.

And this primitive patriarch was in possession of it.

Relation