That did not seem probable. If Monat had found out that Spruce was on the Stranger's side-and how would he ever be able to do that?-would he not then have hypnotized Spruce? That would enable him to identify the Stranger, supposing, of course, that Spruce knew who he was.
There was another possibility. Monat knew of Spruce's ability to kill himself by means of the sphere on his forebrain. Thus, he was not worried that Spruce would be forced to divulge any information at all.
Also, he may have used Spruce as a messenger. He would have given him some information to pass on when Spruce was resurrected at HQ-if HQ meant headquarters.
Monat had taken part in Spruce's inquisition. How amused he must have been at that. Also, it was Monat who had given Spruce some leading questions.
Had Spruce been prepared by Monat to give the answers he had made? Were they all lies?
If so, why should he lie? Why were all resurrectees kept in the dark?
It was quite possible that Spruce, acting on Monat's orders, had deliberately ensured that Kazz would notice him.
By then, the three had boarded the Snark. The Neanderthals stayed above. Burton felt his way to the cabin, down the companion way, and, counting the compartment doors, stopped outside Frigate's and Loghu's. He opened the door slowly and stepped inside. It was a very small space, just large enough to hold two bunks against the bulkhead and room to climb down from them. The bunk-chambers were the only places where any privacy was available. Even defecation was done in them, in the bamboo chamber pots which were stored in a rack to one side.
Frigate usually slept in the top bunk. Burton moved forward, his hand outstretched. He would wake him gently, whisper that it was his watch, and then he would follow him to the deck. There Kazz would knock him out, and he would be carried to the hut.
Since it would be impossible to keep him from killing himself once he was fully conscious, Burton had decided to try to mesmerize him as he was regaining his wits. It would be a chancy procedure, but he would have to try it. Frigate, unlike Spruce, might not be so willing to commit suicide now that there were no more resurrections.
However, Burton was not sure that the Ethicals' agents were not resurrected.
His fingertips felt the smooth sideboard of the bunk. They moved up onto the cloths that served as a mattress. They stopped.
Frigate was not in his bunk.
Burton felt along the cloths though he knew that nobody was on the bunk. They were warm. Then he stood for a minute. Had Frigate gone above to relieve himself because he did not want to awake Loghu? Or had he awakened early and decided to talk to his captain a few minutes before going on guard duty?
Or had he... ? Burton felt furious. Had he sneaked out of bed and now was with Alice?
Feeling ashamed of himself, he rejected that idea. Alice was honest. She would never betray him. If she wanted another lover, she would have said so. She would have told him and then left him. Nor did he believe that Frigate would ever do anything like that to him, though he may have contemplated it in his mind.
He bent down and reached out until he touched cloth. His fingers moved along, traced a curve-Loghu's breast under the cloth-and he backed out and closed the door.
Silently, his heart thudding so fast he could almost believe that it could be heard throughout the cabin, he moved to Monat's partition. His ear against the door, he listened. Silence. He straightened, opened the door, and felt into the upper bunk. Monat was not there, but he could be sleeping in the lower bunk. If so, his breathing was not audible.
His hand slid over unoccupied cloths.
Cursing softly, he groped back to the deck.
Kazz stepped out of the fog with his fist raised.
"Wallah! What's the matter?"
"They're both gone," Burton said.
"But... how could that be?"
"I don't know. Maybe Monat knew that something was wrong. He's the most sensitive person I've ever met; he can read your slightest expression, detect the feeblest nuance in your voice. Or perhaps he heard you wake up Besst, investigated, and guessed the truth. For all I know, he may have been listening to us outside the door of the hut."
"Neither Besst or me made any noise. We was as silent as a weasel sneaking up on a rabbit."
"I know. Look,around. See if our launch is missing."
He met Kazz coining around the other way.
"The boats're all here."
27
Burton roused Lochu and Alice. While they drank hot coffee, he outlined everything that had happened to him in connection with the Ethicals. They were stunned, but they kept silent until he had finished. Questions hailstormed him then, but he said that he would answer them later. It would be dawn shortly, which meant that they had to put their grails on the stone for breakfast.
Alice was the only one who had not said anything. It was evident from her narrowed eyes and tight lips that she was furious.
"I am sorry that I had to keep all this from you," Burton said. "But surely you can see how necessary it was? What if I told you everything and then the Ethicals grabbed you, as they did me? They could have read your mind and discovered that they had erred in thinking they had erased relevant portions of my memory."
"They didn't do so," she said. "Why should they have even thought of that?"
"How do you know they didn't?" he said. "You wouldn't remember it if they had done it."
That gave her another shock. Nevertheless, she did not speak again until after breakfast.
This took place in unusual weather. Normally, the sun quickly burned off the fog. The sky was clear the rest of the day in the tropical zone or until midaftemoon in the temperate zones. In the latter, clouds quickly gathered, rain fell for fifteen minutes or so, and then the clouds disappeared.
This morning, however, black masses rolled between sun and earth. Lightning flickered as if chips of the bright sky above the clouds were falling through. Thunder was the muttering of a giant behind the mountains. A pale light spread over the land, staining it brownish-yellow. The faces around the grailstone looked as if a blight had settled upon them.
Kazz and Besst hunched down uneasily over their food and looked around as if they expected an unwelcome visitor. He muttered in his native tongue, "The-Bear-Who-Collects-The-Bad is walking."
Besst almost whined. "We must find a hut to hide in. It is not good to be near the water when he walks."
The others looked as if they were going to seek shelter, too. Burton stood up and said loudly, "One moment, please! I'm interested in finding out if any of you are missing a boat!"
A man said, "Why?"
"Two of my crew deserted last night, and it's possible that they stole a boat to get away."
Forgetting about the coming storm, the party scattered to look along the bank. Within a minute, a man reported that his dugout was gone.
"They're far away by now," Kazz said. "But did they go up or down The River?"
"If there was a signal system in this area, we could find out quickly enough," Burton said. "Unless, of course, they beached their boat and went into the hills to hide."
Alice said, "What do we do now, Dick? If we stay here to look for them, we'll not be able to get on the Rex."
Burton stifled the impulse to tell her not to point out the obvious to him. She was still simmering; no sense in making her boil again.
"Monat and Frigate can hole up today and sneak out tonight and steal another boat. It would be futile to try to catch them. No, we'll try to get aboard the paddle wheeler. But those two will come along some day, and when they do..."