silence, Lancedale and Chernov had dropped such a bomb. Cardon could
guess how Joyner and Graves felt; they were now beginning to be afraid
of their own proposition. As for the Lancedale Literates, he knew how
many of them felt. He'd felt the same way, himself, when Lancedale had
proposed the idea. He got to his feet.

"Literate President, brother Literates," he raised his voice. "I call
for an immediate vote on this amended motion, which I, personally,
endorse most heartily, and which I hope to see carried unanimously."

"Now, wait a minute!" Joyner objected. "This motion ought to be
debated--"

"What do you want to debate about it?" Chernov demanded. "You
presented it, didn't you?"

"Well, I wanted to give the Council an opportunity to discuss it, as
typical of our problems in dealing with Black ... I mean,
non-Fraternities ... Literacy--"

"You mean, you didn't know it was loaded!" Cardon told him. "Well,
that's your hard luck; we're going to squeeze the trigger!"

"I withdraw the motion!" Joyner shouted.

"Literate President," Lancedale said gently, his thin face lighting
with an almost saintly smile, "Literate Joyner simply cannot withdraw
his motion, now. It has been properly seconded and placed before the
house, and so has my own humble contribution to it. I demand that the
motion be acted upon."