l status in their own estimations.

"There's a devil of a lot to know about big finance. You need a starter,
but once you get it, the stuff just rolls in automatic." He grinned
suddenly, almost boyishly. "Especially when you got a certain little
advantage, like me."

Braun said, interestedly, "How do you put your advantage to work?"

"Well, now, I gotta admit we aren't quite out of the woods. We need more
capital to work with, but after tonight we'll have it. Remember that
Brinks job up in New England a long time ago? Well, we got something
lined up even bigger. I work with Larry and his boys to pull it. Then
there's another thing cooking that Whitely's been keeping tabs on. It
looks like IBM is going to split its stock, three for one. I gotta
attend their next secret executive meeting and find out. If they do, we
buy in just before, see? We buy on margin, buy options, all that sort of
jazz. Whitely knows all about it. Then we got another big deal in
Washington. Looks like the government might devaluate the dollar.
Whitely explained it to me, kind of. Anyway, I got to sit in on a
conference the President's gonna have. If they really decide to devalue,
then Whitely and me, we go ahead and put every cent we got into Swiss
gold. Then the day after devaluation, we switch it all back into dollars
again. Double our money. Oh, we got all sorts of angles, Doc."

"By Caesar," Braun ejaculated. "You seem to have."

* * *

Patricia had poured herself some coffee and was sipping it, black, even
as she stared at him. "But, Don, what do you need all this money for?
You already have more than plenty. Why not call it all off. Get out from
under."

Ross grunted, "Too late, Pat. Can't you see? He's got the power urge
already."

Crowley ignored him and turned to her, pouring more coffee and cognac
for himself. "I'm not running up all this dough just for me. You think
you're the only one's got ideals, like? Let me tell you, I might just be
a country boy but I got ambitions to put some things right in this
world."

"Such as...." Patricia prodded, bitterness in her voice.

"Aw, we went through all that the other day. The thing is, now it's
really under way. If you was seeing the newspapers these days, you'd
know about the Common Man Party."

"Oh, oh," Ross muttered unhappily.

"It's just getting under way," Crowley said modestly, "but we're hiring
two of the top Madison Avenue outfits to handle publicity and