“Hi.” His voice sounded as if he were not sure he ought to talk to Ras. Then he added in a rush of words, “I went back, to let you out. I didn’t want you to have to stay down there. Only, you were gone.”

Ras nodded. “I know, I saw you go. . . . Listen.” He moved closer so that he could ask his questions without anyone overhearing him. “You put together the silver dragon, didn’t you? Well, when you did—did anything queer happen then?”

For a moment he thought that Sig was not going to answer. The other boy looked away, at the dryer as if he must check it, then at the book he held. Ras, uneasy, was ready to move off again, when Sig spoke. “Yeah. Something happened.”

“You—you went to Babylon—and Daniel was there?” Ras asked.

Sig stared at him in open surprise. “Babylon? Daniel? You’re crazy, man. I went with Sigurd, to help kill Fafnir—for the treasure. Sigurd killed him. But then he wouldn’t take the treasure, he said it made a man go bad. It did Mimir, and he was Sigurd’s friend before. So that must have been true.”

Now it was Ras’s turn to be bewildered. “Sigurd,” he repeated. “But—that’s the book you’re reading.”

“I didn’t even know there was a book about it—until I saw this when we had library period yesterday. But it’s wrong in some parts: Sig Clawhand isn’t in the story at all. And he was part of it. I know because I was him—I was!” He looked at Ras as if challenging him to deny that.

“And you put the silver dragon together,” Ras said slowly. “So you had one story. I put the blue one together, and I had another story—they were not the same at all.”

“The blue one!” Sig no longer held the book open with his finger between the pages to keep his place. He gave all his attention to Ras. “You did the blue one—and then you had an adventure. Where?” His demand was sharp and eager.

Ras hesitated. The adventure was so real, so much a part of his memory, that he almost did not want to share it. But there was the mystery of what had happened to both of them. Perhaps if they compared stories they could discover what was in the puzzle which made them see and feel—If Sig had seen and felt as he, Ras, had done.

“I was in a war—in Africa, I think.” He made it as simple as possible. “And there was this big thing out of the swamps. My people called it ‘lau,’ but the priests of Babylon called it ‘sirrush.’ A merchant took it and me to Babylon. And there the temple priests made me help take care of it.” Swiftly he outlined his adventure.