The papers had unfortunately trumpeted all over the land his journey to Costaguana.

If he was pleased at the way Charles Gould was going on, he infused an added grimness into his assurances of support.

Even at the very last interview, half an hour or so before he rolled out of the patio, hat in hand, behind Mrs.Gould's white mules, he had said in Charles's room-- "You go ahead in your own way, and I shall know how to help you as long as you hold your own.

But you may rest assured that in a given case we shall know how to drop you in time." To this Charles Gould's only answer had been: "You may begin sending out the machinery as soon as you like." And the great man had liked this imperturbable assurance.

The secret of it was that to Charles Gould's mind these uncompromising terms were agreeable.