ng short of a combined earthquake and volcanic eruption would have
any effect upon that crowd."

"Oh, but you're wrong!" protested Adair. "That shot of yours with the
semiannual summary for a projectile stirred 'em up good. It seems that
Uncle Sidney and Hertford and Morelock--they're the executive committee,
you know--have had the auditor's figures for some days, but they hadn't
thought it necessary to harrow the feelings of the other members of the
board with the cataclysmic details. So there was a jolly row. Magnus
wanted to know, top-loftily, why a small official from the farther end
of the system should be the first to bring the news; and Mackie was so
wrathy that he inadvertently put the hot end of his cigar in his mouth.
Even Connolly woke up enough to say that it was blanked bad politics."

"But nothing came of it?" said Ford, hope rising in spite of the
negative query.

"No; nothing but a general hand-out of pretty sharp talk. What was
needed right then was a unifier--somebody who could take command and
coax or bully the scrapping factions into line. Magnus tried it, but
he's too smooth. Brewster was the man, but he has too many other and
bigger irons in the fire to care much about P. S-W. Connolly could have
done it if the scrap had been a political split, but he was out of his
element."

"Humph!" growled Ford. "It didn't occur to me that there were any
differences of opinion to be reconciled. The entire board sat on my
proposition--as a unit."

Adair laughed with imperturbable good-humor.

"The factions were there, just the same. You see, it's like this:
Brewster and Magnus and two or three more are pretty well-to-do, and
their holdings in P. S-W. don't cut much of a figure with them, one way
or another. The others have more stock in the company, and fewer
millions. When the jangle came, Brewster and the heavy men said, 'Oh,
let it go; it isn't worth bothering with.' Naturally, the little
fellows, with more to lose and less money-nerve, said, 'No.'"

"It spells the same word for me, in any event," Ford commented, and went
on pitching things into his steamer trunk.

Adair got upon his feet and strolled away to the window.

When he turned again to face the beaten one he said:

"If I wasn't so infernally lazy, Mr. Ford, I more than half believe that
I could pull this thing off for you, myself. But that is the curse of
being born with too much money. I can take a plunge into business now
and then--I'v