would be upset plenty.
Security might get loosened up. There might be breaks for guys who
wanted to do a little extra sabotage--besides maybe hamperin' the
repairin' of the pilot gyros. Then they could try for Haney and Mike and
me."

Joe said coldly: "I've got a pistol and so has Sally. Shall we take
those pistols and go ask those three if they want to start something?"

The Chief snorted.

"Use sense! It's good you got the pistols, though. I snagged a
twenty-two rifle from a shooting gallery. It was all I could get in a
hurry. But go huntin' trouble? Fella, I want to see that Platform go up!
I'll take care of things now. Good layout here. They got to come across
the open to get near. Don't say anything to Sally. But we'll keep our
eyes open."

Joe nodded. He carried the chilled, dripping bottles back to where Haney
solemnly ate a sandwich, sitting crosslegged with his back to the lake
and regarding the shore. The Chief dragged a .22 repeating rifle from
inside his belt, where it had hung alongside his thigh. He casually
strolled over to Mike and dropped the rifle.

"You said you felt like target practice," he remarked blandly. "Here's
your armament. Any more sandwiches, ma'am?"

Sally smilingly passed him the last. She left the top of the basket
open. The pistol that had been there was gone. Then Sally's eyes met
Joe's and she was aware that his three friends had not come here merely
to crash a picnic. But she took it in stride. It was an additional
reason for Joe to approve of Sally.

"Me," said the Chief largely, "I'm goin' to swim. I haven't had any more
water around me than a shower bath for so long that I crave to soak and
splash. I'll go yonder and dunk myself."

He wandered off, taking bites from the sandwich as he went. He vanished.
Haney leaned back against a sapling, his eyes roving about the shoreline
and the rocks and brush behind it.

Mike was talking in his crackling, high-pitched voice.

"But just the same it's crazy! Fighting sabotage when we little guys
could take over in a week and make sabotage just plain foolish! We could
do the whole job while the saboteurs weren't looking!"

Sally said with interest: "Have you got the figures? Were they ever
passed on?"

"I spent a month's pay once," said Mike sardonically, "hiring a math
shark to go over them. He found one mistake. It raised the margin of
what we could do!"

Sally answered: "Joe! Listen to this! Mike says he has the real answer