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reference and tonight before you it has been re-vealed that I was correct for when I said Martin she supplied the missing third part. Alhaja! The name, the all important complete name that pinpoints with exactitude our alpha-node. Martin Alhaja Gontran.
    “Let me tell you who he was, this unimportant little man, this illiterate shepherd who held the creation of an entire world in the palm of his cracked and calloused hand. I ask you to consider the date the six-teenth of July in the year 1212. The scene is the Iberian peninsula and a mighty battle is in preparation be-tween the Christian and the Moslim forces.
    They lie under arms in their separate camps, the watchfires burn low, they gather their strength for the battle of the morrow. But all are not asleep.
    This shepherd, this Mar-tin Alhaja Gontran, has spoken to a friend about what he has planned to do and the friend has spoken to cer-tain others and Gontran is appre-hended by the Moors. These were uncivilized times and men did wreak pain and suffering upon their fellow men of a sort that I will not speak for the gentle ears of the members of the fairer inclination among my audience.
    Suffice to say Gontran spoke be-fore he died, and revealed the fact that he had planned to lead Chris-tian troops that night by secret and unguarded paths that he knew of, being a shepherd, that would bring them behind the Muslim lines. He died and this was not done. Now I ask you to consider what might have happened if he had succeeded in his plan. It is very possible that the Christians instead of the Muslims might have won the battle of Navas de Tolosa the following day, possibly the most decisive battle of the pe-riod.
    I ask you to speculate further. If they had won they might have gone on to further victories and the Ibe-rian Peninsula might be another Christian country like France or Prussia, instead of being Muslim and part of the Greater Caliphate. Of what importance to us is this distant part of the continent you may ask, and I answer of the utmost because cause is linked inviably to event. Cause and event. With Christian rulers in Iberia…“
    Behind him on the platform the sturdy form of Madame Clotilda began to stir and move while from her throat there came a sound some-where between a sigh and a muffled gasp. The greater part of the au-dience gasped in echo and stirred as well so that Dr. Mendoza had to raise his hands for silence.
    “It is fine, it is normal, do not dis-turb yourself I beg of you. See, the physician is here now, waiting ready in the wings in case of need. The strain upon the system is great for a clairvoyant and sometimes… ha-ha, there is a little reaction which is quickly taken care of. See, the curtains close, the doctor is at her side, all will be well. I ask the houselights to be raised, I will return in a mo-ment after a small intermission dur-ing which you will hear a recording of an Eskimo ritual chant I myself recorded in a winter camp of these hardy indigenees north of the Arctic Circle while determining the basic relationship of diurnal time to Circa-dian rhythms so important to the foundations of the alpha-node the-ory. I thank you.”
    With these words the lights came on and the little doctor, after a brief struggle to find the opening in the curtain, vanished from sight while their ears were assaulted by an in-human and high-pitched wailing mixed with a dull thudding. Wash-ington seized the unexpected oppor-tunity and hurried down the aisle searching the audience for that cer-tain face.
    And there she was, in the second row, just in from the aisle, dark hair drawn back and held sweetly by a golden clasp, features perfect for she was indeed a startling beauty whom the newspaper photographers loved to find at balls. Her lips were as full and red without the touch of artifice as any other girl’s after labor at the paintpot. As always he was without words when he first looked at her, filled with happi-ness to be in her presence. But she must