The four members of the Genoese team stared without speaking. Jerry Kennedy put down his glass at last. "You mean you had to restrict him? Why didn't you bring him back to the ship!"
Chessman took a chair at the table. The others assumed standing positions behind him. "I'm afraid we'll have to reject your views on the subject. Twenty years ago this expedition split into two groups. My team will accomplish its tasks, your opinions are not needed."
Amschel Mayer glared at the others in hostility. "You have certainly come in force this time."
Chessman said flatly, "This is all of us, Mayer."
"All of you! Where are Stevens, Cogswell, MacBride?"
Barry Watson said, "Plekhanov's fault. Lost in the battle that broke the back of the rebels. At least Cogswell and MacBride were. Stevens made the mistake of backing Plekhanov when the showdown came."
Joe Chessman looked sourly at his military chief. "I'll act as team spokesman, Barry."
"Yes, sir," Watson said.
"Broke the back of the rebels," Jerry Kennedy mused. "That opens all sorts of avenues, doesn't it?"
Chessman growled. "I suppose that in the past twenty years your team had no obstacles. Not a drop of blood shed. Come on, the truth. How many of your team has been lost?"