voice of Governor Will Gorton.

Duran sat down his drink and took the Governor's plump hand, shaking
it vigorously. Then the senator observed the intense youngish face of
Fritz Ambly, who had followed the Governor.

"Guess you know Fritz," Gorton went on, seating himself next to Duran.
"Says he met you at Sig's office this afternoon."

"That's right," Duran said. "Good to see you again, Ambly."

The Youth Welfare board chairman nodded affably and took the remaining
chair. His look of concern had mellowed somewhat with the evening. But
the pale close eyes remained set in an expression of aggressive
earnestness.

"How's Roger?" Gorton asked, after a moment's silence.

"As normal as ever," said Duran, unprepared for the question. Then,
slyly, he added, "Thanks for talking Loeffler into letting me see
him."

"Well, Sig agreed it was the only thing to do, after I told him you'd
be leaving for Washington again tomorrow," the Governor said.

Duran grinned wryly. It had been a guess, but a good one. And
Loeffler's having passed the interview off as a personal favor put
their relationship back in its proper perspective.

"Well, what's to be done about the boys? They're all under eighteen, I
suppose."

"That's right," Gorton said. "It's entirely a matter for the juvenile
authority. At least we're going to try to keep it there. But there's
more to it than that. Which is why Fritz is here. He has something on
his mind which he thinks is pretty important. I do too."

"You see, Senator," said Ambly, coming in promptly on his cue, "it's
this way. If the case were an isolated one, it would be easy enough
for us to deal with. But it's part of a pattern which few people have
yet noticed. Let me cite several other similar incidents.

"Perhaps you read about the group of fifty teen-aged copter jockeys
who decided to hold a transcontinental scavenger hunt. Ignoring all
air-traffic regulations, they managed to run up the magnificent total
of seventeen collisions and thirty-two casualties."

"Hear about that one, Vance?" the Governor asked, his earlier
festiveness gone.

"Yes, I think I saw something about it," Duran said. "It was pretty
unfortunate, but--"

"And then there was the case of the promising young New England
biologist who was discovered to have evolved a particularly deadly
strain of bacteria, which he had been toting around with him in an
aspirin bottle," Ambly went on, his thin hands clasped tightly in
fron