grimly. "Chief, I intend to impersonate the President."

"Now listen-- The President and I are about the same build. I know a
man who can take care of the make-up; he will get me by anything but a
close inspection. This Eye of Allah, up to now, has worked only in the
light. We'll have to gamble on that and work our change in the dark.

"The President must go to bed as usual--impress upon him that he may
be under constant surveillance. Then, in the night, he leaves--

"Oh, I know he won't want to hide himself, but he must. That's up to
you.

"Arrange for me to go to his room before daylight. From that minute on
I am the President. Get me his routine for that morning; I must follow
it so as to arouse no least suspicion."

* * * * *

"But I don't see--" began the Chief. "You will impersonate
him--yes--but what then? You will be killed if this maniac makes good.
Is the President of the United States to be a fugitive? Is--"

"Hold on, hold on!" said Delamater. He leaned back in his chair; his
face relaxed to a smile, then a laugh.

"I've got it all now. Perhaps it will work. If not--" A shrug of the
shoulders completed the thought. "And I have been shooting it to you
pretty fast haven't I! Now here is the idea--

"I must be in the President's chair at noon. This Allah person will be
watching in, so I must be acting the part all morning. I will have the
heaviest insulation I can get under the rug, and I'll have something
to take the shot instead of myself. And perhaps, perhaps I will send a
message back to the Eye of Allah that will be a surprise.

"Is it a bet?" he asked. "Remember, I'm taking the chance--unless you
know some better way--"

The Chief's chair came down with a bang. "We'll gamble on it, Del," he
said; "we've got to--there is no other way.... And now what do you
want?"

"A note to the White House electrician," said Robert Delamater, "and
full authority to ask for anything I may need, from the U. S. Treasury
down to a pair of wire-cutters."

His smile had become contagious; the Chief's anxious look relaxed. "If
you pull this off, Del, they may give you the Treasury or the Mint at
that. But remember, republics are notoriously ungenerous."

"We'll have to gamble on that, too," said Robert Delamater.

* * * * *

The heart of the Nation is Washington. Some, there are, who would have
us feel that New York rules our lives. Chicago--San F