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intention in smuggling back the

splendid Aztec mask was merely to keep it in secret and gloat over it by

yourself. When Higgins became a nuisance, I think you must have considered

offering it to him in settlement, and then rejected the idea, knowing his

reputation for caution and his habit of checking that the extratemporal

objects he was offered had been licensed by my Society. So you hit on

a subtler way out of your corner. You deluded him into believing he had

bought the mask from someone else.

"Small wonder he cannot tell the inquisitors from whom! How can one

remember a person who did not exist? But you did not manage to get at

his clerks, did you? I've spoken to them, and even the clerk who keeps

Higgins's stock-list had no record of the mask.

"Oh, possibly this was intended to lend colour to the hoped-for outcome,

the imprisonment of Higgins for trading in temporal contraband. In jail

he could scarcely continue to dun you for his money! I deduce this from

your action in giving the mask to the Marquesa, who could be relied upon

to boast about it within days and draw the attention of someone like

myself who would recognise the illegality of its presence here. Whereupon

you would play the innocent dupe, and let Higgins suffer the rigours of

the law.

"You acted your role well. Indeed, until you drew that chain from your

pouch I still half-doubted my own conclusions. But the inquisitor

I talked to this afternoon warned me about such tricks, and now I'm

convinced beyond a doubt."

Don Arcimboldo cast the silver chain violently to the floor. "It's a

pack of lies!" he shouted. "This nonsense will never convince anyone

but a fool like you!"

"I'm prepared to take that risk," Don Miguel said stonily. He slid his

sword from its scabbard and presented its point to the other's chest.

"Don Arcimboldo Ruiz, by the authority in me vested of the Society

of Time I arrest you on charges of temporal contraband and desire you

to go with me to face trial. You may have met one corrupt Licentiate,

Don Arcimboldo -- but learn from this that some of us take our rules

seriously. After all, we are meddling with the very fabric of the

universe."

VIII

The vacant space between the crystal pillars hummed faintly; those

present in the hall shifted on their chairs, wiping their faces now

and then. It was always warm in the neighbourhood of the pillars when

a traveller was about to return from a voyage into time.

The Prince of New Castile seemed worse affected by the heat than were his

colleagues, and grunted and muttered to himself. Abruptly he could not

stand it any longer, and snapped his fingers at an attentive aide nearby.

"Wine!" he barked. "The heat is terrible!"

"Yes, your highness," said the aide alertly. "And for the General Officers

as well?"

Red Bear moved his long Indian face once in a gesture of acceptance,

but Father Ramón did not stir. After a pause, the Prince waved at the

aide to hurry up.

"Think you it is well done, Father?" he snapped.

Father Ramón seemed to come back to the present from a private voyage

into the elsewhen. He sketched a brief smile, turning to the Prince.

"As well done as we may do," he parried. "At least we know that the golden

mask is being restored; whether the restoration itself was wise, we can

only guess."

Red Bear snorted. "If you had doubts about the wisdom of putting the thing

back, why give me so much trouble over it?"

"We must always doubt our own wisdom," said Father Ramón peaceably.

He raised a hand towards the crystal pillars. "I think the moment is at

hand -- the humming grows louder."

The technicians on duty around the time-hall had tensed to their

positions. Now, suddenly, there was a clap like thunder and a smell

of raw heat, and in the space between the pillars a shape appeared: a

curious shape of iron and silver bars, that seemed to glow for a moment

as energy washed out of their substance in the process of their rotation

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