le filling
station attendant amiably. "Mr. Von Holtz said you had a flat and a
busted radiator. That right?"

* * * * *

Tommy nodded. The red-headed man walked around the car, scratched his
chin, and drew out certain assorted tools. He put them on the grass
with great precision, pumped a gasoline blow-torch to pressure and
touched a match to its priming-basin, and while the gasoline flamed
smokily he made a half dozen casual movements with a file, and the
broken radiator tube was exposed for repair.

He went back to the torch and observed placidly:

"The Professor ain't around, is he?"

Tommy shook his head.

"Thought not," said the red-headed one. "He gen'rally comes out and
talks a while. I helped him build some of them dinkuses in the barn
yonder."

Tommy said eagerly:

"Say, which of those things did you help him build? That big thing
with the solenoid--the coil?"

"Yeah. How'd it work?" The red-headed one set a soldering iron in
place and began to jack up the rear wheel to get at the tire. "Crazy
idea, if you ask me. I told Miss Evelyn so. She laughed and said she'd
be in the ball when it was tried. Did it work?"

"Too damn well," said Tommy briefly. "I've got to repair that
solenoid. How about a job helping?"

The red-headed man unfastened the lugs of the rim, kicked the tire
speculatively, and said, "Gone to hell." He put on the spare tire with
ease and dispatch.

"Um," he said. "How about that Mr. Von Holtz? Is he goin' to boss the
job?"

"He is not," said Tommy, with a shade of grimness in his tone.

* * * * *

The red-headed man nodded and took the soldering iron in hand. He
unwound a strip of wire solder, mended the radiator tube with placid
ease, and seemed to bang the cooling-flanges with a total lack of
care. They went magically back into place, and it took close
inspection to see that the radiator had been damaged.

"She's all right," he observed. He regarded Tommy impersonally.
"Suppose you tell me how come you horn in on this," he suggested, "an'
maybe I'll play. That guy Von Holtz is a crook, if you ask me about
him."

Tommy ran his hand across his forehead, and told him.

"Um," said the red-headed man calmly. "I think I'll go break Mr. Von
Holtz's neck. I got me a hunch."

He took two deliberate steps forward. But Tommy said:

"I saw Denham not an hour ago. So far, he's all right. How long he'll
be all right is