"Do you think I could help him?" asked Pen. "He and I've always been
good friends."

Williams hesitated, then he spoke with a sudden deep earnestness that
surprised Pen: "If you don't help him, things will be bad for Boss
Still. And you're the only person I know of that could influence him."

He paused as he saw Pen flush painfully, then he went on a little
awkwardly: "Maybe you'll understand me better if--if I tell you I was
with Boss Still when a--Mr. Dennis wrote about your marriage. I know
about how he felt and all and I sort of look on your coming at this
particular time as a kind of a godsend.

"Now I'm going to tell you some things confidential and leave it to your
judgment how to act. Boss Still, he sort of worshiped Freet. You know
who he is?"

Pen nodded. Williams went on. "Freet, as I size it up, wanted to break a
smart cub in to be a kind of cat's paw for him in selling water power to
the right folks and running the canals right. It's darn seldom you meet
a good engineer that's money hungry. But Freet is. He's a miser in a
way. But up on the Makon, he found out the Boss is as innocent as a baby
of graft and more'n that he had his head in the clouds so's there was
mighty little hope of his coming down to earth. So Freet got him sent
down here.

"Well, the time's coming down here when there'll be a nice lot of water
power. It belongs to the farmers after they pay for the dam, but the
idea is for the engineer in charge to show 'em where to sell it to best
advantage. If the engineer here ain't the right kind, the Water Power
trust can make him trouble. All sorts of ways, you see. Getting the
farmers sore at him is one. See?"

Pen nodded again, her eyes wide and startled. "Now," said Iron Skull,
"don't be offended, but I'm wondering about your husband. I know Freet
knows him and if it should just happen that your husband had any old
scores to settle with the Boss----"

He paused and Pen exclaimed: "I believe we'd better go right back to New
York, though as far as I know we're out here just for Sara's health and
for him to buy up some land Mr. Freet knew about."

"Now don't get excited," said Williams. "Remember this here is all
speculation on my part. You stay right here. If it wasn't your husband,
it would be someone else and I'd rather it would be someone that has you
to watch 'em! And that ain't the most important part of your job,
either. Mrs. Saradokis, somehow the Boss ain't getting the grip on