Chapter IX

Altamont and Loudons shook hands many times in front of the Aitch-Cue House, and listened to many good wishes, and repeated their promise to return. Most of the microfilmed books were to be stored in the old church. They were taking with them only the catalogue and a few of the most important works. Finally, they entered the helicopter. The crowd shouted farewell as they rose.

Altamont, at the controls, waited until they had gained five thousand feet, then turned on a compass-course for Colony Three.

“I can’t wait until we’re in radio range of the Fort, Jim. This is one report that I really want to make,” he said.

“Of all the wonderful luck!” he went on. “And I don’t know which is the more important: finding those books, or finding those people. In a few years, when we can get them supplied with modern equipment and instructed in its use--

“What’s the matter, Jim? You should be even more excited than I am.”

“I’m not very happy about this, Monty,” Loudons confessed. “I keep thinking about what’s going to happen to them.”

“Why, nothing’s going to happen to them. They’re going to be given the means of producing more food, keeping more of them alive, giving them more leisure to develop themselves in--”

“Monty, I saw the Sacred Books.”

“The deuce! What were they?”

“It. One volume. A collection of works. We have it at the Fort and I’ve read it. How I ever missed all those clues--”

“You see, Monty, what I’m worried about is what’s going to happen to those people when they find out that we’re not really Sherlock Holmes and Doctor Watson...”