times he muttered and mumbled under his
breath.

In the other offices the entire force from manager to office boys was
hushed and awed, for they had seen the expressions on the faces of the
heads of the concern when they stalked into the inner office that
morning.

Muller finally looked up, rather hopelessly, at Linane.

"Unless we can prove that the crash was due to some circumstance over
which we had no control, we are ruined," he said, and there actually
were tears in his eyes.

"No doubt about that," agreed Linane, "but I can swear that the Colossus
went up according to specifications and that every ounce and splinter of
material was of the best. The workmanship was faultless. We have built
scores of the biggest blocks in the world and of them all this Colossus
was the most perfect. I had prided myself on it. Muller, it was
perfection. I simply cannot account for it. I cannot. It should have
stood up for thousands of years. The foundation was solid rock. It
positively was not an earthquake. No other building in the section was
even jarred. No other earthquake was ever localized to one half block of
the earth's crust, and we can positively eliminate an earthquake or an
explosion as the possible cause. I am sure we are not to blame, but we
will have to find the exact cause."

"If there was some flaw?" questioned Muller, although he knew the
answer.

"If there was some flaw, then we're sunk. The newspapers are already
clamoring for probes, of us, of the building, of the owners and
everybody and everything. We have got to have something damned plausible
when we go to bat on this proposition or every dollar we have in the
world will have to be paid out."

"That is not all," said Muller: "not only will we be penniless, but we
may have to go to jail and we will never be able to show our faces in
reputable business circles again. Who was the last to go over that
building?"

"I sent Teddy Jenks. He is a cub and is swell headed and too big for his
pants, but I would bank my life on his judgment. He has the judgment of
a much older man and I would also bank my life and reputation on his
engineering skill and knowledge. He pronounced the building positively
O.K.--100 per cent."

"Where is Jenks?"

"He will be here as soon as his car can drive down from Tarrytown. He
should be here now."

* * * * *

As they talked Jenks, the youngest member of the engineering force,
entered. He en