A few minutes later Tugwell strode in, bringing with him Drake, the
Chief Line Inspector of the Nine Line. Shortly thereafter the office
door was wrenched open. Keller had come to Kinnison, accompanied by the
Superintendent whom the Siberians referred to, somewhat contemptuously,
as "Piddy."

"Damn your soul, Kinnison, come out here--I want to talk to you!" Keller
roared, and doors snapped open up and down the long corridor.

"Shut up, you God damned louse!" This from Tugwell, who, black eyes
almost emitting sparks, was striding purposefully forward. "I'll sock
you so damned hard that...."

"Pipe down, Tug, I'll handle this." Kinnison's voice was not loud, but
it had then a peculiarly carrying and immensely authoritative quality.
"Verbally or physically; however he wants to have it."

He turned to Keller, who had jumped backward into the hall to avoid the
young Siberian.

"As for you, Keller, if you had the brains that God gave bastard geese
in Ireland, you would have had this conference in private. Since you
started it in public, however, I'll finish it in public. How you came to
pick _me_ for a yes-man I'll never know--just one more measure of your
stupidity, I suppose."

"Those shell are perfect!" Keller shouted. "Tell Drake here to pass
them, right now. If you don't, by God I'll...."

"Shut up!" Kinnison's voice cut. "I'll do the talking--you listen. The
spec says quote shall be free from objectionable cavitation unquote. The
Line Inspectors, who know their stuff, say that those cavitations are
objectionable. So do the Chemical Engineers. Therefore, as far as I am
concerned, they are objectionable. Those shell are rejected, and they
will _stay_ rejected."

"That's what _you_ think," Keller raged. "But there'll be a new Head of
Inspection, who will pass them, tomorrow morning!"

"In that you may be half right. When you get done licking Black's boots,
tell him that I am in my office."

Kinnison re-entered his suite. Keller, swearing, strode away with Piddy.
Doors clicked shut.

"I _am_ going to quit, Uncle Ralph, law or no law!" Tugwell stormed.
"They'll run that bunch of crap through, and then...."

"Will you promise not to quit until they do?" Kinnison asked, quietly.

"Huh?" "What?" Tugwell's eyes--and Celeste's--were pools of
astonishment. Celeste, being on the inside, understood first.

"Oh--to keep his nose clean--I see!" she exclaimed.

"Exactly. Those shell will not be accepted, nor any lik