on
the leaders' favorites. He began saying these things on the streets. He
got a box, and used it for a platform, and he shouted from the street
corners that the leaders were corrupt, and none of them were safe
unless College Hill and City Hall were wiped out. He said that he would
be a better mayor than anyone else in Mayfield.

He had listeners. They gathered on the corners in the daytime, and they
listened at night by the light of flaming torches. Many people began to
believe that he was right.

* * * * *

A week after Mrs. Larsen's illness, it was evident beyond all doubt that
Mayfield was the victim of a killer epidemic. Mayor Hilliard himself was
stricken, and he sent word that he wanted Professor Maddox, Ken, and Dr.
Larsen to come to his bedside.

He was like a feeble old man when they arrived. All the fire and the
life had gone from his eyes, but he brightened a little as they came
into the room.

"At least you are still alive," he said gruffly. "I just wanted to make
sure of that fact, and I wanted to have a final understanding that it's
soaked into your thick heads that nothing is to interfere with your own
survival."

"We hope you're not overestimating our worth," said Professor Maddox.

"I don't know whether I am or not! All I know is that if you're not
worth saving then nobody is. So, if this town is going to die, you are
going to be the last ones left alive, and if you don't give me your word
on this right now I'll come back and haunt you every minute you do
survive!"

"In order to haunt, you have to be in the proper realm," said Professor
Maddox, attempting a joke.

Mayor Hilliard sighed. "I think I can take care of that, too. I'm beat.
You're close to it, but you've got to hang on. Carry on with your work
on the hill. One thing more: This fellow Meggs has got to be crushed
like a worm. When I go, there won't be any election. Johnson is taking
over and he'll look out for you, the same as I have done."

"You're going to be all right!" said Professor Maddox. "You'll be up on
your feet in another week!"

The Mayor seemed not to have heard him. He was staring at the ceiling,
and there was an amused smile at the corners of his lips. "Ain't Mother
Nature a funny old gal, though?" he said. "She's planned this to work
out just right, and I think it's another of old Doc Aylesworth's signs
that Mayfield and College Hill are going to live, so that the rest of
the world