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the United States will give in and use some of our gold, even though it

would not last long."

"Do we even have as much gold as we're supposed to?" Nim asked. "There

seems some doubt about it."

Humphrey looked surprised. Mr. fustice Yale didn't; a soft smile played

around his lips.

"I subscribe to a financial newsletter-The International Harry Schultz

Letter," Nim said. "There are often things in there which prove to be

true but newspapers don't seem to want to publish. Schultz has been

writing about two men-a Washington lawyer, Dr. Peter Beter, who used to

be counsel for the United States Export-Import Bank, and Edward Durell,

an American industrialist. Both are shouting 'fraud' about Fort Knox

gold, claiming there may be a lot less there that the world believes."

Paul Sherman Yale nodded. "Quite a few in Washington have heard of both

men, but not many will admit it. Incidentally, I subscribe to Schultz's

letter too."

"What Beter and Durell argue," Nim explained to Humphrey, "is that Fort

Knox gold hasn't been audited properly since 1953. They also claim that

most of the remaining gold is impure-from melted-down coins containing

silver, copper and antimony, which President Roosevelt called in when

gold ownership for Americans was made illegal. That alone would mark the

gold holdings down by twenty percent, possibly more."

"I've not beard that before," Humphrey said. "It's interesting."

Nim went on, "There's more. It's believed that in the 196o dollar cri-

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sis a whole lot of U.S. gold was used to support the dollar, with the in-

tention it would be replaced. It never was."

"In that case," Humphrey asked, "why keep it a secret?"

Paul Yale interjected, "That's easy to answer. If the rest of the world

believed the United States doesn't have the gold it claims to, there

would be a fresh run on the dollar-panic selling." He added thoughtfully,

"I've heard rumors in Washington about that missing gold. They say every

new Treasury Secretary is sworn to secrecy, then told the facts. One

thing is clear: The government won't permit an independent audit of Fort

Knox gold." He shrugged. "I have no means of knowing if any of what Beter

and Durell claim is true. But stranger things have happened, especially

in Washington."

Eric Humphrey sighed. "There are days," he told Yale, "when I find myself

wishing my assistant were less well informed, that be read less widely,

and once in a while reined in that searching mind of his. As if I didn't

have enough to worry about-Tunipah, coal, water, gas, oilnow he's added

gold."

9

In the chairman's mahogany-paneled office in the Sequoia Club's Cable Hill

headquarters, Laura Bo Carmichael hesitated, her pen poised over a check

in front of her. It was for twenty-five thousand dollars.

The check was drawn on the club's special projects account. It was

payable to: power & light for people.

The money would be the second installment of the total-fifty thousand

dollars-pledged to Davey Birdsong's organization last August, five months

ago. The first payment had been made immediately following the

confidential agreement between the Sequoia Club and p&lfp. Now the second

half was due.

The signature of Roderick Pritchett, the Sequoia Club's managersecretary,

was already on the check, one line below where the chairman's was

required. With a squiggle of Laura Bo's pen-her signature was usually

unreadable-sbc could make the check official. Yet still she hesitated.

The decision to ally the Sequoia Club with p & lfp had plagued her with

doubts, immediately after it was made and ever since.

These doubts were reinforced at the Tunipah hearings where Davey

Birdsong, she thought-,- ha& behaved -abominably. All of Laura Bo's in-

tellect rebelled against what she saw as his cheap, shoddy tactics, his

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clownish playing to the gallery, his cynical appeal to the lowest levels

of intelligence.

Now she asked herself again: Had she been wrong in casting the deciding

vote which approved the alliance and made the money available? Had the

respected Sequoia Club debased and dishonored itself by an association,

for which-if the truth became public, as it might-Laura Bo, as chairman,

would be held responsible?

Shouldn't she have sided, after all, with Priscilla Quinn, who had laid

her opinion about Birdsong on the line? Laura Bo could rememberclearly

and uncomfortably-Priscilla's words: "All my instincts are against

trusting him . . . I have principles, something that disgusting man

appears to lack." And afterward: "I think you will all regret that vote.

I wish my dissent to be TeCOTded."

Laura Bo Carmichael regretted her vote already.

She put her pen down, the check still unsigned, and reached for an

intercom handset. When the manager-secretary answered, she asked,

"Roderick, could you come in, please?"

"It occurs to me," she told him a few minutes later, "that we might

reconsider making this second payment. If the first was a mistake, then

at least we need not compound it."

Pritchett, dapper and well groomed as usual, seemed surprised. He took

off his rimless glasses and polished them with a handkerchief, a

time-honored, time-consuming tactic.

"Has it occurred to you, Madam Chairman," he said, replacing the glasses,

"that if we withheld those funds we would be violating an agreement,

honorably entered into, and fulfilled-so far-by the other side?"

"But has it been fulfilled? What did we get for the first twenty-five

thousand-Birdsong's histrionics at the Tunipah bearings?"

"I'd say," Pritchett said, picking his way carefully among the words,

"that Birdsong has achieved a good deal more than histrionics. His tac-

tics, while rough-certainly rougher than we could resort to ourselveshave

been shrewd. So far he has caused most of the media's attention to be

focused on opposition to Tunipah while the arguments of Golden State

Power have received only trifling attention. He also succeeded in

demolishing their key witness, Goldman-first by provoking him, then

standing back while Goldman antagonized everyone in sight, including his

own company."

"I felt sorry for him," Laura Bo said. "I've known Nim Goldman for a long

time and, while he may be misguided, he's honest and sincere. He did not

deserve what happened."

Pritchett said primly, "In these kind of contests some of those in-

volved-and their reputations-are apt to get bruised. The important thing,

from the point of view of the Sequoia Club, is to win. Where Tunipah is

concerned I believe we will."

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"And I've never believed," Laura Bo responded, "in winning at all costs.

I listened to that argument many years ago. To my dying day I will regret

not contesting it."

The manager-secretary felt like sighing but restrained himself. He had

encountered Mrs. Carmichael's recurring guilt about HiroshimaNagasaki

many times before and had learned to cope with it. Nimbly backtracking,

he assured her, "My choice of words was unfortunate. What I should have

said is that the agreement with Birdsong will help attain our objectives,

which are admirable, as we both know."

"But where is all that money going?"

"Some of it to Birdsong himself, of course. After all, be's putting in

many hours personally-still attending those hearings every day, cross-

examining new witnesses, at the same time keeping himself and opposition

to Tunipah in the news. Then there are his supporters. He's managed to

pack the hearing room with them continuously; that alone gives an

impression of strong, spontaneous opposition to Tunipah from the public."

"Are you suggesting it is not spontaneous? That Birdsong pays those

people to be there?"

"Not all." Again Pritchett chose his words warily; he knew bow it was

being done because he had talked to Birdsong, but was reluctant to be

specific. "Let's say some of those people have expenses, they have to ab-

sent themselves from work, and so on. Also those same supporters, or

others Birdsong recruited, staged demonstrations at the Golden State

Power & Light annual meeting. He told us about his plans there, if you

remember, when we met."

Laura Bo Carmichael appeared shocked. "Paid demonstrators! A paid

disruption of an annual meeting! All of it with our money. I do not like

it."

"May I remind you of something, Madam Chairman," Pritchett remonstrated.

"We entered into this arrangement with p & lfp with our eyes open. When

our committee met-Mr. Irwin Saunders, Mrs. Quinn, you, me-we were aware

that Birdsong's methods might be, well . . . unorthodox compared with our

own. A few days ago I went over my notes of that August meeting and we

agreed there could be certain things 'we'd be better off not knowing!

Those, incidentally, were Mr. Saunders' exact words."

"But did Irwin, at that time, understand Birdsong's methods?"

"I think," Pritchett said drily, "as an experienced lawyer be had a

pretty good idea."

The point was valid. As his friends and enemies knew, Irwin Saunders was

a rough-and-tumble fighter in the courts and was not noted for ethical

niceties. Perhaps more accurately than anyone, be had judged in advance

how Birdsong would work.

The manager-secretary, though not mentioning it to Laura Bo, was also

concerned about another matter involving lawyer Saunders.

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Roderick Pritchett was due to retire soon. Saunders was the influential

chairman of the Sequoia Club's finance committee, which would decide how

large a pension-or how small-Pritchett would receive.

The club's pensions for retired staff were neither automatic nor fixed,

but based on years of service and the committee's opinion of an individ-

ual's performance. Roderick Pritchett, who knew he had had his critics

across the years, particularly wanted to look good to Saunders in these

final months, and the Tunipah hearings and Davey Birdsong could be

critical factors.

He told Laura Bo, "Mr. Saunders is delighted with Birdsong's efforts in

opposing Tunipah. He telephoned to say so and reminded me that Birdsong

promised 'continual harassment of Golden State Power & Light on a broad

front! The p & lfp has delivered on that. Another thing agreed to was no

violence-you may recall I raised that point specifically. Birdsong has

also kept his promise there."

Laura Bo asked, "And have you heard from Priscilla Quinn?"

"No." Roderick Pritchett smiled. "But, of course, Mrs. Quinn would be

elated, even triumphant, if you backed down now and refused to make that

second payment. I imagine she would go around telling everyone she was

right and you were wrong."

It was a shrewd thrust. Both of them knew it.

If the original decision were reversed at this late stage, it would be

remembered that Laura Bo Carmichael bad cast the pivotal vote; therefore

her embarrassment would be acute, not least because of the accompanying