ng hard," the scientist said patiently, "and I think I
have the solution. Give me another day."

"One day, then. After that--" The Prime Minister made a significant
slicing motion with his finger.

* * * * *

The Prime Minister chewed his fingernails and watched the clock. Sleep
was out of the question with the King calling up every little while
yelling for action. The Minister counted the hours and presented himself
at the Royal Laboratories precisely twenty-four hours later. "Time's
up," he snapped.

The Chief Scientist was wiping his face. There were new lines around his
mouth. He indicated a small steel box. "I think I've got it," he said.
"Come with me."

They went swiftly to the Administration Building. "This should be close
enough. We depress this lever and--and hope."

"Well, do it--do it!"

The Chief Scientist pushed the lever on the steel box. A whirring sound
came from within. All the steel girder ends in sight--all the nasty
little rivets--disappeared. The Chief Scientist smiled and wiped his
face again. "It worked," he said.

"Excellent. I'll see that you get a medal."

"Thank you," the Chief Scientist said sadly. That was the trouble with
people nowadays. They either handed you a medal or your head.

* * * * *

Ted and Bill stared sadly at the mess around the City Hall. Bill said,
"It's a good thing it collapsed at night so nobody was killed, isn't
it?"

"You said it. I'd have felt guilty if there'd been any casualties."

"What do you suppose went wrong?"

"You got me. What do you think they'll do to old Blair?"

"I don't know, but it looks pretty bad. They refused to let him out on
bail."

"Serves him right. The way he treated us."

"You've got it wrong. He treated us swell. He did us a big favor. We
could have been blamed for this."

Bill thought it over before saying, "I guess you're right. I hadn't
looked at it that way."

"Let's go home and get to work on the leather solution."

So they did.

THE END

Transcriber's Note:

This etext was produced from _If Worlds of Science Fiction_
September 1952. Extensive research did not uncover any evidence that
the U.S. copyright on this publication was renewed. Minor spelling
and typographical errors have been corrected without note.

End of Project Gutenberg's Holes, Incorporated, by L. Major Reynolds

*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG