were four or five other
possibilities, all of them disquieting; he would have been a great deal
less alarmed if somebody had taken a shot at him.

Getting a box of cartridges out of his Gladstone, he filled the
cylinder with 158-grain loads. When he went to the bathroom, he took
the revolver in his dressing-gown pocket; when he dressed, he put on
the shoulder-holster, and pocketed a handful of spare rounds.

Anton Varcek was loitering in the hall when he came out; he gave Rand
good-morning, and fell into step with him as they went toward the
stairway.

"Colonel Rand, I wish you wouldn't mention this to anybody, but I would
like a private talk with you," the Czech said. "After Fred Dunmore has
left for the plant. Would that be possible?"

"Yes, Mr. Varcek; I'll be in the gunroom all morning, working." They
reached the bottom of the stairway, where Gladys was waiting.
"Understand," Rand continued, "I never really studied biology. I was
exposed to it, in school, but at that time I was preoccupied with the
so-called social sciences."

Varcek took the conversational shift in stride. "Of course," he agreed.
"But you are trained in the scientific method of thought. That, at least,
is something. When I have opportunity to explain my ideas more fully, I
believe you will be interested in my conclusions."

They greeted Gladys, and walked with her to the dining-room. As usual,
Geraldine was absent; Dunmore and Nelda were already at the table, eating
in silence. Both of them seemed self-conscious, after the pitched battle
of the evening before. Rand broke the tension by offering Humphrey Goode
in the role of whipping-boy; he had no sooner made a remark in derogation
of the lawyer than Nelda and her husband broke into a duet of
vituperation. In the end, everybody affected to agree that the whole
unpleasant scene had been entirely Goode's fault, and a pleasant spirit
of mutual cordiality prevailed.

Finally Dunmore got up, wiping his mouth on a napkin.

"Well, it's about time to get to work," he said. "We might as well save
gas and both use my car. Coming, Anton?"

"I'm sorry, Fred; I can't leave, yet. I have some notes upstairs I have
to get in order. I was working on this new egg-powder, last evening, and
I want to continue the experiments at the plant laboratory. I think I
know how we'll be able to cut production costs on it, about five per
cent."

"And boy, can we stand that!" Dunmore grunted. "Well, be seeing you at