e thousands of dollars in time and material.

He lighted the lamp in his tent and saw a letter from Uncle Denny on the
table. There was nothing unusual about a letter from Uncle Denny and
ordinarily Jim waited for his bath and clean clothes before reading it.
But this time, with an inexplicable sense of fear, he picked it up and
read it at once.

"STILL JIM, MY BOY:

We've had a blow. All the year Penelope has been seeing
Saradokis. She has made no bones of it, and he would not let
her alone. I could do nothing, though I talked till I was no
better than a common scold. But it never occurred to your
mother and me that Pen could do what she did.

Day before yesterday, just at noon, she called me up at the
office and told me she and Sara had just been married at the
Little Church Round the Corner and were leaving for Montauk
Point in Sara's new high power car. She rang off before I
could answer.

I sat at my desk, paralyzed. I couldn't even call your
mother up. I sat there for half an hour, seeing and hearing
nothing when your mother called me up. There had been an
accident. Sara had disobeyed a traffic policeman, they had
run into a truck at full speed. His car was wrecked. Pen
escaped with a broken arm. Sarah had been apparently
paralyzed. Pen had him brought to our house.

Well, I got home. It has been a fearful two days. Sara is
hopelessly paralyzed from the waist down. He may live
forever or die any time. He is like a raving devil.

Pen--Still Jim, my boy--Little Pen is paying a fearful price
for her foolishness. She is like a person wakened from a
dream. She says she cannot see what made her give in to
Sara.

I've made a bad job of telling you this, Jimmy. Your mother
says to tell you she understands. She will write later.

Love, dear boy, from
UNCLE DENNY."

Jim crumpled the letter into his pocket and dashed out into the night.
For hours he walked, heedless of rock or cactus, of rain or direction.
He took a fiendish satisfaction in the thought of Sara's tragedy. Other
than this he did not think at all. He felt as he had at his father's
death, rudderless, derelict.

It was dawn when Iron Skull found Jim sitting on a pile of rock five
miles from camp. He put his hand on Jim's shoulder.

"Boss Still," he said, "what's broke loose?