this hole."

"Aunt Mattie would be disappointed if it were better," I said as I sat
on the edge of the bed, which was little softer than the chair. "She
expects to rough it, and finds special virtue in doing her duty as
uncomfortably as possible."

He looked sharply at me, but I had merely stated an accepted fact, not
an opinion, and was therefore emotionless about it.

"I'm in trouble, Hap," he said desperately. He leaned forward with
his clasped hands held between his knees.

"Well, old man," I answered. "You know me."

"Yes," he said. "But there isn't anybody else I can turn to."

"Then we understand each other," I agreed. He looked both resentful
and puzzled.

"No, I never did understand you," he disagreed. "I suppose it's all
those billions that act as shock insulation for you. You never had to
plan, and scheme, and stand alert indefinitely like a terrier at a rat
hole waiting for opportunity to stick out its nose so you could pounce
on it. So I don't see how you can appreciate my problem now."

"I might try," I said humbly.

"This job," he said. "It's not much, and I know it. But it was a
start. The department doesn't expect anything from me but patience.
It's not so much ability, you know, just a matter of who can hang on
the longest without getting into trouble. I've been hanging on, and
keeping out of trouble."

"But you're in trouble now."

"I will be when your aunt fails to put mother hubbards on the
natives."

"She won't fail," I said confidently.

"And when she storms into the State Department with fire in her eye
and starts turning things upside down, it'll be my fault--somehow," he
said miserably.

"So let her put some clothes on some natives," I said. "She'll go away
happy and then, for all you care, they can take 'em off and burn 'em
if they insist on going around naked. Just swing with the punch, man.
Don't stand up and let 'em knock your block off. Surely you have some
influence with the natives. I don't hear any war drums, any tom-toms.
I don't see them trying to tear holes in the sides of your bubble to
let the air out. You must be at peace with them. You must have some
kind of mutual cooperation. So just get a tribe or so to go along with
the idea for a while."

He looked at me and shook his head sadly. Sort of the way Aunt Mattie
shook her head after a conference with my psychiatrist. But Johnny
didn't seem somehow happier. He had a pretty good chest, but it didn't
look enorm