put the question steadily,
but his voice throbbed with excitement.

Satisfied with the start that he had made, Dolph let go his ankle and
sank back inertly in his chair.

"What idiots you specialist fellows are!" he observed indolently. "Once
you get smacked on the head, you're all in. You think you are killed,
and, instead of kicking around to find out the truth of the matter, you
promptly proceed to turn up your toes."

Reed eyed him keenly, spoke impatiently.

"Interpret, Dolph. I may be dense; but I can't see what it is you're
driving at."

"More fool you! I thought better of you, Opdyke, than all that," Dolph
told him, with unabated serenity. "Didn't you ever hear of such a thing
as a consulting engineer?"

"I ought, as it was my official title," Reed made curt answer. "What
then?"

"Put your title into commission, man."

"Impossible."

"Not at all. Of course, you can't go raging around the mountains; but
you may have heard of an old gentleman named Mahomet. Yes? Well, there
you are. And you've a laboratory and a staff of chemists under your
very elbow. Make your people come to you, instead of your going to
them. Your reputation is all made by now. Sit back and get the working
good out of it, not chuck it away as if it wasn't worth an uninitialled
Lincoln cent."

Nothing more nonchalant and unconcerned than Dolph's drawling utterance
could have been imagined. None the less, his words appeared to have
kindled into new flame the burnt-out fires of Opdyke's professional
ambition. For a minute or two, he lay quite silent, while two scarlet
patches glowed upon his cheeks, and while the eyes above them seemed to
fix themselves on distant vistas far beyond the limits of Dolph's
sight. Then at last, he spoke, whimsically as far as his mere wording
went, but in a voice which Dolph found scarcely recognizable.

"Dennison," he said slowly; "for a man who aims to be considered a
genius by reason of the chronic mismatching of his socks and ties, and
by his discordant metaphors, you once in a while do have an
inspiration. Thanks. And now, would you mind it, if I asked you to go
home? I believe I'd like a little time to think things over. Come in,
to-morrow morning, though. Else, I shall send Ramsdell out to capture
you."

Next day, Dolph did come in, and again the next. On the third day,
Opdyke had a half-dozen letters to show him, a half-dozen bits of
planning to submit to his shrewd young brain.

"I've rathe