“You’ll want to stay at the Orient, of course. I’ve booked a room for you, took the liberty. Private bath, tub and shower, fully air-conditioned, quite nicely furnished. Tenth floor, so you’ll have a splendid view. Give you some perspective on the situation here, ha ha.”

He was small and pink. He would have looked quite pink anywhere and in Bangkok he glowed like a sore thumb. He told me that one of the boys would see to my bags, ha ha, and I said that I would just as soon see to my own bags, ha ha.

“Oh, ho, ho, I guess you would. Top secret and all that, eh You haff zee documents, ha ha”

They unloaded the airplane, and I collected my baggage and followed it through Customs. A narrow, bespectacled Thai asked me to open my bags, and Barclay Houghton Hewlitt began waving cards at him, dropping winks at him, and urging him to let me through directly.

The Customs man said he would have to clear this with a superior. People were beginning to pay far too much attention to us. Already, as a result of Barclay Houghton Hewlitt’s greeting, at least half the population of Bangkok knew who I was and what I was supposed to be doing there. Now the fool would only succeed in assuring them that I had something classified in my baggage, with the result that my room would be searched and something, no doubt, stolen.

I opened the suitcases. The Thai, perhaps to save face, went through everything. There was not much beyond clothing and toilet articles. He picked up the flashlight and hefted it.

“Damned silly,” Hewlitt said. “We could have avoided all this, Tanner. Hardly a royal welcome for you, ha ha.”

The Thai unscrewed the back of the flashlight and poured the batteries into his hand. One dropped and bounced on the floor. I closed my eyes briefly. When I opened them, the Thai