Encouraged, the godsman cried, "Let Crookback swear to it. He was willing to declare it."
"Will you?" the High Arbiter asked Crookback.
"Though I am sure of the truth, my reverence for the God Mother-Father is too great to permit me to swear to the contents of another's mind—"
"That, and not wanting to be tried for false swearing," Snubnose muttered. He admired his old master a lot less.
"—but I will swear by the God Mother-Father that I myself am ignorant of the theory."
"What good is that?" the godsman demanded.
Cleverly, the master stood in respectful silence. There was an awkward pause—awkward for the godsman and the High Arbiter—and then the High Arbiter collected himself and said, "The question may be answered. I will hear the Candidate's master."
"I am shocked and saddened," said Crookback, "that the holy one believes that apprentices, still wearing their neckbands, excel in wisdom the masters of the guilds."
The High Arbiter's driver, who had been squatting meekly by the elephant, suddenly let loose a screaming laugh, which he cut off just as suddenly with a scared catch of breath.
"I will hear the oath," the High Arbiter said.