all those fellows back as easily as you sent them off?"
demands Tyler.

"Quite," says Hartley. "I wouldn't, though, until you had fired those
scab plumbers."

"I see," says Z. K. "And if I did fire 'em, do you think you have
influence enough to get a full crew of union men to finish this job by
next Saturday?"

"Oh, yes," says Hartley. "I could put fifty men at work here Monday
morning--if I wanted to."

"H-m-m-m!" says Z. K., caressin' his left ear. "It's rather a big house
for just your mother and me to live in. Plenty of room for another
family. And I suppose a good studio could be fixed up on the third
floor. Well, son, want to call it a trade?"

"I'll have to talk to Edith first," says Hartley. "I think she'll like
it, and I'll bet you'll like her, too."

Uh-huh! From late reports I hear that Hartley was right both ways. A few
days later Mr. Robert tells me that the Tylers are all preparin' to move
out together. He had seen the whole four of 'em havin' a reunion dinner
at the Plutoria, and says they all seemed very chummy.

"Just like they was members of One Big Union, eh?" says I. "But say,
Hartley's right up to date in his methods of handlin' a wrathy parent,
ain't he? Call a strike on 'em. That's the modern style. I wonder if
he's got it patented?"

CHAPTER XIX

TORCHY GETS A HUNCH

Course, I only got my suspicions, and I ain't in position to call for
the real facts in the case, but I'll bet if it came to a show down I
could name the master mind that wished this backache and the palm
blisters on me. Uh-huh! Auntie. I wouldn't put it past her, for when it
comes to evenin' up a score she's generally right there with the goods.
Deep stuff, as a rule, too.

I ain't denyin' either, but what Auntie had grounds for complaint. Maybe
you remember how she came out to spend a quiet week-end with us after a
nerve shatterin' night in town and near got chewed up by Buddy, the
super-watch dog, and then was almost flooded out of bed because the
attic storage tank ran over? Not that I didn't have a perfect alibi on
both counts. I did. But neither registered with Auntie.

Still, this before-breakfast sod-turnin' idea comes straight from Vee.
Ever try that for an appetizer? Go on, give it a whirl. Ought to be
willin' to try anything once, you know. Some wise old guy said that, I
understand. I'd like to find the spot where he's laid away. I think I'd
go plant a cabbage on his grave. Anyway, he's got some li