"Mr. Donner is here."
G. W. Caples nodded to the question in the secretary's face. "Send him
in."
The man in the doorway was tall, sandy and rather stooped for early
middle age. His straight lined features looked competent, but the mouth
was compressed to a narrow hyphen, as if he had lived through this
ordeal many times in anticipation and always come out of it badly. His
gray business suit was wrinkled with travel.
"Good morning, Mr. Caples. Gentlemen."
Although he closed the door gently, the click of it sounded loud in the
silence. "I hope I'm not late."
"Right on the dot, Ray. Glad to see you. Pick a comfortable chair." The
president smoothed the crumpled letter in front of him on the desk and
waved the silent Halleck to a seat. "You can order that coffee now,
young man."
When Taplin had called for the coffee and started the recording
machine, G. W. Caples addressed the newcomer again with heavy,
executive affability. It was authentic enough to ease the watch-spring
tension in the room.
"Before we start, Ray, keep it in mind that this isn't a trial or
anything like that. I, for one, have an open mind. If your record
hadn't been beyond reproach, you wouldn't be a research plant manager
in the first place."
"Thank you."
"But your letter here mentions an unauthorized experiment that cost
$300,000, a missing man--two missing men, in fact--your fear of ugly
publicity and--well, various other details that leave me thoroughly
confused. Now, you're going to give us all the facts--not as a culprit,
but as a trusted official."
"I appreciate that, sir. Shall I begin at the beginning?"
"Yes. Forget the letter. Begin where you like."
"Well, first, you know Dr. Wilson Reed, the archeologist. Top man in
the field. He made the Yucatan discoveries and located the Poseidon
Tablets in the vaults under the Sphinx--the newspapers called him the
'Columbus of the Past.' But I don't need to tell you that. This all
began with a letter I had from Dr. Reed shortly after he left for his
second expedition to Egypt."
* * * * *