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a pleasant thank you to her, then looked at the bubbling nectar in my glass. He glanced at the empty glass, that third glass at the place on the table where no other person was expected to sit. His puzzled look betrayed the fact that he was asking himself constantly why it was there. It did not disturb him, but merely seemed to puzzle him. I decided to wait awhile before drinking any more of the beverage. I wanted to take in more of the situation before going under its complete influence. It was then that Adam spoke abruptly. “In the final analysis, Orfeo, there is only one virtue; the love of 1 pure learning.” In the short pause that followed his words, the whole life cycle of a galaxy must have gone past Adam’s vision. Then he added: “And all else is procrastination and dissipation in the eyes of the One who but awaits our evolutionary awakenings.” I was, in spirit, suspended in a tenuous world by now. When he uttered these words I felt it was time to take some of the sparkling drink. The additional nectar made no difference in my feeling. The first two sips had done all that a river of the nectar could do. Adam had spoken these words as if they were the end of a long conversation between us instead of the beginning. I turned toward the two young marines and noticed that one of them was now smiling. They must have heard Adam. We continued to eat, slowly. Food had never before tasted better to me, for the cord waoad 1 wre beverage made me feel splendid. Adam began to speak again, this time in subdued and well controlled tones. “IT am a medical doctor, Orfeo, from Seattle. On my next birthday I shall be 38. A little more than a month ago it became necessary to close out my practice.” He paused as we took a few more bites of our food. In the same subdued voice he then resumed, maintaining a calm, pleasant poise. “To me, the profession is steeped in the Hippocratic Oath, as it is with so many others. It was my hope to some day de- 21 ADAM IN THE DESERT