He nodded assent to some question he had put to himself, and crowded tobacco into his pipe.

"No reason at all, one way or the other.

I need a foreman--one I can depend on.

I've got to make a trip out to the Coast, this fall, and I've got to leave somebody here I can trust." Ford shot him a quick, questioning glance, and bit his lip.

"That," he said more calmly, "is just what I'm driving at.