Bambridge, aka the Wooden Shekel, arrives at the Babelite Embassy in Rephidim, having been summoned there by an obscurely-written letter from the Ambassador. He finds the Embassy largely deserted, and snoops around, finding a familiar cheetah – Pathfinder – among the slave help here. (The REST of the slaves here are her children.)

The Wooden Shekel exchanges signs with Pathfinder, then slips out to see what is going on in the cemetary. He meets up with his two lackeys, Otto and Wart, who report from their vantage points in a couple of open graves.