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"I should be" Pitt smiled "I found one in the Labrador Sea off Quebec Province a few years ago"

"Yes, the Doodlebug project I remember"

"A stratigraphic trap is one of the toughest oi'l deposits to discover

Normal seismic exploration won't detect it Yet they often prove out to have incredibly high yields"

"Which leads us to bitumen, a hydrocarbon-like tar or asPhatt that was used in Mesopota buildings, canals, clay drainage pipes and caulking boats Other uses included roads, treatment Of wounds, and adhesives Much later the Greeksthe North African coast that bubble with oil The Romans recorded a site in the Sinai they called Petrol Mountain And the Bible tells of God ordering Jacob to suck oil out of flintlike rock, and describes the vale of Siddi frill of slime pits, which can be interpreted as tar pits"

"None of these areas has been relocated or drilled?" Pitt asked

"There has been drilling, yes, but no significant strikes to date

Geologists clai five hundred million barrels of crude petroleum under Israel alone

Unfortunately, the ancient sites have been lost and covered over through the centuries due to land upheavals and earthquakes"

"Then the oal is to find a massive oil bonanza in Israel"

"You have to admit it would solve a multitude of problems "

"Yes, I guess it would"

The Senator and Pitt sat in silence for the next er and his computer banks didn't pick up a lead, the chances were, at best, hopeless Pitt was suddenly angered that the power brokers in the te House and Congress were old than in the art and literature that could fill in the aps of history

It was, he thought, a sad commentary on the affairs of state

The silence was broken by the ring of the telephone The Senator walked over to a desk and picked up the receiver He said nothing,up