dam has stood for in his mind has come to
naught. And that's a bad feeling for a man as young as Jim. He'll never
readjust himself, Jim won't. He can get another job but his life's big
dream will have gone to smash. His inspiration will be gone. And what
will he do then, poor boy?"

"But it's impossible," persisted Herr Gluck. "He's a valuable man. It is
not possible they would dismiss him. Some day when he is older he will
do great things your country can't afford to lose. What is the matter
with your Head of the Service?"

"Impossible!" snorted Uncle Denny. "Impossible! The word is not in the
vocabulary of the American politician. The Director is all right, a fine
clean fellow. But he can't help himself. It's either Jim or the Project
to be smirched. They won't be satisfied, the politicians, till they get
the Service attached to the Spoils system. What do they care for
scientific achievement? Soul of me soul! I'd like to be Secretary of the
Interior for fifteen minutes. I'd discharge everyone in the Department,
ending with meself."

Herr Gluck was visibly excited. "I tell you it is not possible! He's a
great engineer in the making? They cannot know it or they would not so
do."

Uncle Denny lost patience. "I'm telling you it is so! Don't you know
that nothing is impossible to ignorant men?" he shouted. "Didn't
ignorance crucify Christ? Didn't the ignorant make Galileo deny his
world was round? Didn't ignorance burn Joan of Arc at the stake? Every
advance the world has made has been with bloody footsteps. Don't we
always kill the man in the vanguard and use his body as a bridge to
cross the gulf of our own fear and ignorance? I tell you, I fear
ignorance!"

Herr Gluck rose and shook his plump fist in Uncle Denny's face. "Those
are days gone by in my country," he roared. "They may be true in this
raw land or in besotted Ireland, but in the Fatherland we worship brain.
Do not include the Fatherland in your recriminations! Once in a while
you accomplish great things in your foolish country here with its
hysteria and frothing and bubbling. But come to my country if you would
see the quiet patient advance of noble science with scientists revered
like kings."

"There were colleges in Ireland," shouted Uncle Denny, "when your
ancestors were wearing fur breech clouts and using cairns for books!"

Jim came slowly up the trail and Uncle Denny and Herr Gluck sat down a
little sheepishly. Herr Gluck did not waste any time