so far as that is concerned."

"I get that, all right enough," said Donald. "Now go on. What is your
deduction? How the devil am I to beat the best? He is perfect, right
straight along in everything."

The red in Linda's cheeks deepened. Her eyes opened their widest. She
leaned forward, and with her closed fist, pounded the blanket before
him.

"Then, by gracious," she said sternly, "you have got to do something
new. You have got to be perfect, PLUS."

"'Perfect, plus?'" gasped Donald.

"Yes, sir!" said Linda emphatically. "You have got to be perfect, plus.
If he can take his little mechanical brain and work a thing out till he
has got it absolutely right, you have got to go further than that and
discover something pertaining to it not hitherto thought of and start
something NEW. I tell you you must use your brains. You should be more
than an imitator. You must be a creator!"

Donald started up and drew a deep breath.

"Well, some job I call that," he said. "Who do you think I am, the
Almighty?"

"No," said Linda quietly, "you are not. You are merely His son, created
in His own image, like Him, according to the Book, and you have got to
your advantage the benefit of all that has been learned down the ages.
We have got to take up each subject in your course, and to find some
different books treating this same subject. We have got to get at it
from a new angle. We must dig into higher authorities. We have got to
coach you till, when you reach the highest note possible for the parrot,
you can go ahead and embellish it with a few mocking-bird flourishes.
All Oka Sayye knows how to do is to learn the lesson in his book
perfectly, and he is 100 per cent. I have told you what you must do
to add the plus, and you can do it if you are the boy I take you for.
People have talked about the 'yellow peril' till it's got to be a
meaningless phrase. Somebody must wake up to the realization that
it's the deadliest peril that ever has menaced white civilization. Why
shouldn't you have your hand in such wonderful work?"

"Linda," said the boy breathlessly, "do you realize that you have been
saying 'we'? Can you help me? Will you help me?"

"No," said Linda, "I didn't realize that I had said 'we.' I didn't mean
two people, just you and me. I meant all the white boys and girls of the
high school and the city and the state and the whole world. If we are
going to combat the 'yellow peril' we must combine against it. We have
got t