hotly, "but if I must choose between the lives of a
thousand men who are not dependent on me, and the life or welfare of one
woman who is, I shall choose the woman."

"He's right, you know," said the Doctor, and the Very Young Man agreed
with him fervently.

Two days later the company met again in the privacy of the clubroom.
When they had finished dinner, the Chemist began in his usual quiet way:

"I am going to ask you this time, gentlemen, to give me a full week.
There are four of you--six hours a day of watching for each. It need not
be too great a hardship. You see," he continued, as they nodded in
agreement, "I want to spend a longer period in the ring world this time.
I may never go back, and I want to learn, in the interest of science, as
much about it as I can. I was there such a short time before, and it was
all so strange and remarkable, I confess I learned practically nothing.

"I told you all I could of its history. But of its arts, its science,
and all its sociological and economic questions, I got hardly more than
a glimpse. It is a world and a people far less advanced than ours, yet
with something we have not, and probably never will have--the
universally distributed milk of human kindness. Yes, gentlemen, it is a
world well worth studying."

The Banker came out of a brown study. "How about your formulas for these
drugs?" he asked abruptly; "where are they?" The Chemist tapped his
forehead smilingly. "Well, hadn't you better leave them with us?" the
Banker pursued. "The hazards of your trip--you can't tell----"

"Don't misunderstand me, gentlemen," broke in the Chemist. "I wouldn't
give you those formulas if my life and even Lylda's depended on it.
There again you do not differentiate between the individual and the
race. I know you four very well. You are my friends, with all the bond
that friendship implies. I believe in your integrity--each of you I
trust implicitly. With these formulas you could crush Germany, or you
could, any one of you, rule the world, with all its treasures for your
own. These drugs are the most powerful thing for good in the world
to-day. But they are equally as powerful for evil. I would stake my life
on what you would do, but I will not stake the life of a nation."

"I know what I'd do if I had the formulas," began the Very Young Man.

"Yes, but I don't know what you'd do," laughed the Chemist. "Don't you
see I'm right?" They admitted they did, though the Banker acquies