before he was ready to attempt
to pass them. Have you a run down on him yet?"

"Susan Self says her father, Ernest Self, is an inventor. Steve Hackett is
working on locating him."

"He's an inventor indeed. Evidently, he has invented a perfect
counterfeiting device. However, that is the Secret Service's headache, not
ours. Do you wish to resume that vacation of yours, Lawrence?"

His operative twisted his face in a grimace. "Sure, I do, but I'm not
happy about this, sir. What happens if there really is an organization, a
Movement, like she said? That brings it back under our jurisdiction,
anti-subversion."

The other shook his head tolerantly. "See here, Lawrence, when you begin
scheming a social revolution you can't plan on an organization composed of
a small number of persons who keep their existence secret. In spite of
what a good many persons seem to believe, revolutions are not accomplished
by handfuls of conspirators hiding in cellars and eventually overthrowing
society by dramatically shooting the President, or King, or Czar, or
whoever. Revolutions are precipitated by masses of people. People who have
ample cause to be against whatever the current government happens to be.
Usually, they are on the point of actual starvation. Have you ever read
Machiavelli?"

Niccolo Machiavelli was currently _the thing_ to read. Larry said with a
certain dignity, "I've gone through 'The Prince,' the 'Discourses' and
currently I'm amusing myself with his 'History of Florence.' "

"Anybody who can amuse himself reading Machiavelli," the Boss said dryly,
"has a macabre sense of humor. At any rate, what I was alluding to was
where he stated that the Prince cannot rule indefinitely in the face of
the active opposition of his people. Therefore, the people always get a
government that lies within the limits of their tolerance. It may be on
one edge or the other of their limits of tolerance--but it's always within
their tolerance zone."

Larry frowned and said, "Well, what's your point, sir?"

The Boss said patiently, "I'm just observing that cultures aren't
overthrown by little handfuls of secret conspirators. You might eliminate
a few individuals in that manner, in other words change the personnel of
the government, but you aren't going to alter a socio-economic system.
That can't be done until your people have been pushed outside their limits
of tolerance. Very well then. A revolutionary organization must get out
and propag