nspection onto those pins."

"Excellent! We can do that--very fine work, Doctor! Miss Morgan, get
District at once!"

This, too, should have warned Kinnison, but it did not. He went back to
the Laboratory.

Tempus fugited.

Orders came to get ready to load M67 H.E., A.T. (105 m/m High Explosive,
Armor Tearing) shell on the Nine, and the Siberians went joyously to
work upon the new load. The explosive was to be a mixture of TNT and a
polysyllabic compound, everything about which was highly confidential
and restricted.

"But what the hell's so hush-hush about _that_ stuff?" demanded Blondie,
who, with five or six others, was crowding around the Czar's desk.
Unlike the days of Cappy Sumner, the private office of the Chief Chemist
was now as much Siberia as Siberia itself. "The Germans developed it
originally, didn't they?"

"Yes, and the Italians used it against the Ethiopians--which was why
their bombs were so effective. But it says 'hush-hush,' so that's the
way it will be. And if you talk in your sleep, Blondie, tell Betty not
to listen."

The Siberians worked. The M67 was put into production. It was such a
success that orders for it came in faster than they could be filled.
Production was speeded up. Small cavitations began to appear. Nothing
serious, since they passed Inspection. Nevertheless, Kinnison protested,
in a formal report, receipt of which was formally acknowledged.

General Somebody-or-other, Entwhistle's Commanding Officer, whom none of
the Siberians had ever met, was transferred to more active duty, and a
colonel--Snodgrass or some such name--took his place. Ordnance got a new
Chief Inspector.

An M67, Entwhistle loaded, prematured in a gun-barrel, killing twenty
seven men. Kinnison protested again, verbally this time, at a staff
meeting. He was assured--verbally--that a formal and thorough
investigation was being made. Later he was informed--verbally and
without witnesses--that the investigation had been completed and that
the loading was not at fault. A new Commanding Officer--Lieutenant-Colonel
Franklin--appeared.

The Siberians, too busy to do more than glance at newspapers, paid very
little attention to a glider-crash in which several notables were
killed. They heard that an investigation was being made, but even the
Czar did not know until later that Washington had for once acted fast
in correcting a bad situation; that Inspection, which had been under
Production, was summarily divorce