"He has a passion for pure thought and has the finest analytical faculty of any man I know. He can truly be said to 'specialize' in a great many subjects. To him the distance from cause to effect or from effect to cause is a short and a simple one. He has not a superior in physics, chemistry, anatomy, physiology and the sciences generally. He is as familiar with the microscope as the ordinary man is with a pencil. "It was some years ago that I got him interested in criminology. To his mind each crime is merely a scientific problem which he goes about solving as if it were any other scientific problem. It is only recently that he has begun to take an active interest in the human phases of criminology. "He hates newspapers, newspapermen and loose thinking. He connects the last, loose thinking, with newspapers and reporters. I got in with him because his chief assistant and adopted son, John Matthews, was a classmate of mine in the university. John, if he lives long enough, will be as great a scientist as his chief. John, or Jack as I call him, is over six feet tall and would have made any professional heavyweight step some if he had taken to the ring as a profession. "To see and hear the two of them is a treat. It reminds one of a battleship being convoyed by a clean cut little motor launch. And to hear them! The old man is constantly deploring--" At this moment there cut through the abnormal quiet of the smoky city room the deep growl of its autocrat, "Iron Man" Hite. Jimmy stopped. Hite was calling his name. No one who was not deaf ever let Hite call him twice. "Hey, Hale," roared the voice. Jimmy reached the dais of the man who was said to be the best and the cruellest city editor in the newspaper game. "Jimmy, your vacation begins next week, doesn't it?" Jimmy nodded and looked at his superior expectantly. Hite continued: "Your little tin god, Professor Herman Brierly, is spending the summer up in Canada, isn't he?" Jimmy nodded again. "Howdje like to spend your vacation up there with Brierly at the paper's expense?" Jimmy made no effort to hide the suspicion in his eyes. He had heard of Greeks bearing gifts, particularly when the Greek took the shape of his city editor. "What do you mean, my vacation at the paper's expense? I get my pay during my two weeks' vacation, don't I?" "Yes, but the paper is willing to pay all the expenses of your vacation besides. What do you think of that?" The suspicion in Jimmy's eyes grew deeper. He knew his city editor. There was--Hite cut in on his reflections. "A swell chance for you to spend part or all of your vacation with Professor Brierly and your friend, Matthews. District Attorney McCall is up there too. Brierly is in McCall's shack." He was becoming enthusiastic. "Just think of a vacation at the paper's expense in--"