d the big fellows. In fact, we have never found the
slightest material proof of what we are morally certain is the truth,
that World Steel is back of a lot of deviltry all over the country. The
little fellows who do the work either don't know anything or are afraid
to tell. I'll see if I can find out what they are doing with the stuff
they stole, but I'm not even sure of doing that. You can't plant
instruments on that bunch--it would be like trying to stick a pin into a
sleeping cat without waking him up. They undoubtedly have one of the
best corps of detectives in the world. You haven't perfected an
instrument which enables you to see into a closed room and hear what is
going on there, have you?" And upon being assured that they had not, he
took his leave.

"Optimistic cuss, ain't he?" remarked Seaton.

"He has cause to be, Dick. World Steel is a soulless corporation if
there ever was one. They have the shrewdest lawyers in the country, and
they get away legally with things that are flagrantly illegal, such as
freezing out competitors, stealing patents, and the like. Report has it
that they do not stop at arson, treason, or murder to attain their ends,
but as Prescott said, they never leave any legal proof behind them."

"Well, _we_ should fret, anyway. Of course, a monopoly is what they're
after, but they can't form one because they can't possibly get the rest
of our solution. Even if they should get it, we can get more. It won't
be as easy as this last batch was, since the X was undoubtedly present
in some particular lot of platinum in extraordinary quantities, but now
that I know exactly what to look for, I can find more. So they can't get
their monopoly unless they kill us off...."

"Exactly. Go on, I see you are getting the idea. If we should both
conveniently die, they could get the solution from the company, and have
the monopoly, since no one else can handle it."

"But they couldn't get away with it, Mart--never in a thousand years,
even if they wanted to. Of course I am small fry, but you are too big a
man for even Steel to do away with. It can't be done."

"I am not so sure of that. Airplane accidents are numerous, and I am an
aviator. Also, has it ever occurred to you that the heavy forging for
the Skylark, ordered a while ago, are of steel?"

Seaton paused, dumbfounded, in the act of lighting his pipe.

"But thanks to your object-compass, we are warned." Crane continued,
evenly. "Those forgings are