get my
bearin's a bit to see things, to put this and that together.

We was workin' on shaped steel plates, armor for the tanks. Now and then
one would come through with some of the holes only quarter or half
punched. Course, you couldn't put rivets in them places.

"How about these?" I asks.

"Aw, wottell!" says Mike. "Forget it."

"But what if the inspector sees?" I insists.

Mike gurgles in his throat, indicatin' mirth.

"Th' inspec'!" he chuckles. "Him wink by his eye, him. Ya! You see! Him
coom Sat'day."

And I swaps chuckles with Mike. Also, by settin' up the schooners at
Carlouva's that evenin', I got Mike to let out more professional
secrets along the same line. There was others who joined in. They
bragged of chipped gears that was shipped through with the bad cogs
covered with grease, of flawy drivin' shafts, of cheesy armor-plate that
you could puncture with a tack-hammer.

While it was all fresh that night I jotted down pages of such gossip in
a little red note-book. I had names and dates. That bunch of
piece-workers must have thought I was a bear for details, or else nutty
in the head; but they was too polite to mention it so long as I insisted
each time that it was my buy.

Anyway, I got quite a lot of first-hand evidence as to the kind of
inspectin' done by the army officer assigned to this particular plant. I
had to smile, too, when I saw Mr. Marvin towin' him through our shop
Saturday forenoon. Maybe they was three minutes breezin' through. And I
didn't need the extra smear of smut on my face. Marvin never glanced my
way. This was the same officer who'd been in on our dinner party, too.

Yes, I found chattin' with Mike and his friends a lot more illuminatin'
than listenin' to Mr. Marvin. So, when I drew down my second pay
envelop, I told the clerk I was quittin'. I don't mind sayin', either,
that it seemed good to splash around in a reg'lar bath-tub once more and
to look a sirloin steak in the face again. A stiff collar did seem odd,
though.

Me and Mr. Ellins had some session. We went through that red note-book
thorough. He was breathin' a bit heavy at times, and he chewed hard on
his cigar all the way; but he never blew a fuse until forty-eight hours
later. The General Manager of Wonder Motors, four department heads, and
the army officer detailed as inspector was part of the audience. They'd
been called on the carpet by wire, and was grouped around one end of our
directors' table. At the