garette
in the other, while around him is grouped his faithful fluff
body-guard, each with a pan in her lap and the potato-peelin's comin'
off rapid. Forsythe? Oh, he seems to be speedin' 'em up and keepin'
tally.

I'd just let out my second gasp when I feels somebody at my elbow, and
glances round to find it's Miss Jane.

"Look!" says I, indicatin' Forsythe and his busy bees.

"What a picture!" says Miss Jane.

"Yes," says I, "illustratin' the manly art of lettin' the women do it."

Miss Jane laughs easy.

"It has been that way for ages," says she. "Mr. Hurd is only running
true to type. But see! The potatoes are nearly all peeled and our dinner
is going to be served on time. What splendid assistants you've both
been!"

At that, though, if there'd been a medal to be passed out, I guess it
would have been pinned on Forsythe.

CHAPTER XV

THE HOUSE OF TORCHY

This trip it was a matter of tanks. No, not the ice-water variety, or
the kind that absorbs high-balls. Army tanks--the sort that wallows out
at daybreak and gives the Hun that chilly feelin' down his spine.

Accordin' to my credentials, I was supposed to be inspectin' 'em for
weak spots in the armor or punk work on the gears. And I can tell you
now, on the side, that it was 90 per cent. bluff. What the Ordnance
Department really wanted to know was whether the work was bein' speeded
up proper, how many men on the shifts, and was the steel comin' through
from the rollin' mills all right. Get me? Sleuth stuff.

I'd been knockin' around there for four days, bein' towed about by the
reserve major, who had a face on him like a stuffed owl, a nut full of
decimal fractions, and a rubber-stamp mind. Oh, he was on the job, all
right. So was everybody else in sight. I could see that after the first
day. In fact, I coded in my O. K. the second noon and was plannin' to
slip back home.

But when I hinted as much to the Major he nearly threw a cat-fit. Why,
he'd arranged a demonstration at 10 A.M. Thursday, for my special
benefit. And there were the tests--horse-power, gun-ranges, resistance,
and I don't know what all; technical junk that I savvied about as much
as if he'd been tryin' to show me how to play the Chinese alphabet on a
piccolo.

Course, I couldn't tell him that, nor I didn't want to break his heart
by refusin'. So I agrees to stick around a while longer. But say, I
never enjoyed such a poor time doin' it. For there was just one spot on
th