AN EXTRACT
'Didn't it occur to you that evidence like this should be disturbed as little as possible?'
She didn't say anything, lost for words.
'What did you find under the tree?'
'Why should I have found anything under it?' she countered defensively.
'It doesn't need a red Indian to read the signs,' he said. 'So come on, out with it.'
'A crystal slipper, sir,' she said, finding it almost impossible not to laugh at the expression on his face. She had to admit it sounded outrageous, even to her own ears. She stared at him with a defiant expression.
'A what?'
'A crystal slipper, sir.'
'Sure you wouldn't like to settle for something else?' he warned, rising to his feet. 'If you're hiding something …'
'I'm telling you,' she protested, 'it's got nothing to do with the UFO. It was obviously either hidden in the tree at the time it fell, or got uncovered by the explosion—'
'I'll be the judge of that,' he said. 'Where is it now?'
'In my wash bag at camp, sir,' she confessed reluctantly.
He stared at her a moment in silence. Then, 'Right,' he said. 'You can hand it over to me when I drop you off there. This all goes in an immediate report to the Captain, including your so-called "crystal slipper".'
Jenny took a deep breath. 'No, sir. I found it – it's mine.'
'You will do as you're told, Wren Howard,' he said. 'You will turn it in or find yourself charged with disobeying an order, to say the least. If it is what you say it is – although I doubt it – it'll be treasure trove and therefore Crown Property.'

23
'I beg pardon, sir,' argued Jenny, somewhat surprised by her own temerity, 'but aren't you forgetting we're the other side of the border, now – in the Irish Republic?'
He swore softly, then took her arm. 'Out,' he ordered, and practically pushed her along at
a half trot, branches whipping her face. At the edge of the field he stopped and swung her
round to face him. 'Now look,' he said, 'I appreciate that you think you know what your find is, but you could easily be mistaken. Practically all non-inflammable materials are distorted under the influence of excessive heat. You say what you found was a crystal slipper. All right, that might well be what it looks like to you, but it almost certainly wouldn't to a scientist. A scientist would
recognise the piece for what it is: a chance distortion of an artefact destroyed in the burn-up. Have you never seen the odd shape that glass can take when subjected to heat?'
'Yes, I have,' she said defiantly. 'I've seen them in the ashes of the stove at home, and they go all grey and twisted – and dirty. And this isn't. It's bright, clean and clear—'
'So what?' he said. 'It might be a type of mineral which takes on that appearance—'
'With two lines of Oghamic characters cut into the sole?'
'Og-what?'
'Oghamic, sir. It's a form of writing the ancient Celts used.'
'Never stop learning, do I?' he muttered. 'You have got to hand this thing over. Don't you see it's the most vital clue that's come to hand so far?'
Jenny stared at him. 'What? That the Americans or Russians are printing their technical instructions in Oghamic script? I'm sorry, sir, but I can't help laughing.