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would be if we could travel to the past? Go back to the time before the white men came, when there were only Indians. Or back to a time before there were any men at all.”
    â€œI have never thought of it,” said Hiram. “I have never thought of it because I don’t think it can be done.”
    â€œWe think Catface may know how to it. We’d like to talk with him to find out how to do it or if he’ll help us do it.”
    Hiram sat silently for a moment, struggling visibly to let it all sink in.
    â€œYou want to go into the past?” he asked. “Why would you want to do that?”
    â€œYou know about history?”
    â€œSure, I know about history. They tried to teach me it when I went to school, but I wasn’t any good at it. I never could remember all them dates. It was all about the wars they fought and who was president and a lot of stuff like that.”
    â€œThere are people,” Rila said, “called historians who make it their business to study history. There are a lot of things they are not sure about because people who wrote about it wrote it wrong. But if they could go back in time and see what happened and talk to people who were living then, they would understand it better and could write better histories.”
    â€œYou mean we could go back and see what happened a long, long time ago? Actually go and see it?”
    â€œThat’s what I mean. Would you like to do that, Hiram?”
    â€œWell, I don’t rightly know,” said Hiram. “Seems to me you could get into a lot of trouble.”
    I broke in. “As a matter of fact,” I said, “you wouldn’t have to go unless you wanted to. All we want you to find out, if you can, is whether Catface really knows how to do it and if he can show us how.”
    Hiram shrugged. “I’d have to prowl around at night. Probably out there in the orchard. He shows up sometimes in the daytime, but it’s mostly at night.”
    â€œWould you mind doing that?” I asked. “You could sleep daytimes.”
    â€œNot if Bowser could go with me. Night is a lonesome time, but if Bowser was with me, I wouldn’t feel so lonesome.”
    â€œI suppose that would be all right,” I said, “if you put a leash on Bowser and keep him close beside you. And another thing: when you see the Catface, just stand there talking to him. Never walk toward him.”
    â€œMr. Steele, why shouldn’t I never walk toward him?”
    â€œI can’t tell you that,” I said. “You’ve just got to trust me. We know one another fairly well and you know I’d never tell you wrong.”
    â€œI know you wouldn’t,” Hiram said to me. “You don’t need to tell me why. If you say so, it’s all right. Me and Bowser will never walk toward him.”
    â€œAnd you’ll do it?” Rila asked. “You’ll talk with Catface?”
    â€œI’ll do what I can,” said Hiram. “I don’t rightly know what’s going to happen, but I’ll do my best.”

TEN
    Willow Bend is a small town, its business section no more than a block long. On one corner stands a small supermarket, across from it a drugstore. Straggling up the street are a hardware store, a barber shop, a shoe store, a bakery, a clothing shop, a combined real-estate and travel bureau, an electrical store and repair shop, a post office, a movie house, a bank and a beer joint.
    I found a place to park the car in front of the drugstore and went around to open the door for Rila. Ben Page came hurrying across the street to intercept us.
    â€œAsa,” he said, “it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you. You don’t get down this way too often.”
    He held out a hand and I took it. “As often as I need,” I said. I turned to Rila and said, “Miss Elliot, meet Ben Page. Ben is our mayor and the banker.”
    Ben thrust out his hand to Rila.