The nature of him was the same. There were the same dynamic possibilities, the same urge to action, the same qualities which had formerly made for unrest, recklessness, restlessness. His dynamo had been creating electricity which must have outlet, and, none being provided, took what freakish, ill-considered outlet it found. The same dynamo was still generating, but its product flowed evenly, with stable force, along wires placed to carry it. What had been turbulent potentialities were harnessed; they had been harnessed by an idea, and that idea was that the needs of his country demanded a certain service of him. He went about his work not so much enthusiastically as grimly, relentlessly. He was a man driven by an obsession; that obsession was to clear the way against his country's call for aeroplanes. And Detroit came to the conclusion that he was mad as a March hare. There were those of his friends whose nature it was not to pronounce unpleasant words; these spoke of him as eccentric. One man, however, seemed to take Potter seriously, and his name was Cantor. After his first call he came frequently to visit, making his desire to cultivate Potter's friendship plainly apparent. Cantor was, Potter judged, in the neighborhood of thirty-five; a man of wide experience, whose eyes had seen most of the world with a distinctness which enabled him to talk of it as no mere globe-trotter could talk. In spite of a feeling, not so much of suspicion as of questioning, with which Potter regarded Cantor at first, he found himself attracted by the man. This was due, in its inception, doubtless to Cantor's attitude toward Potter's object in life. There was no doubt that Cantor accepted Potter's clearness of vision and was deeply interested in his plans. This, an oasis of belief in a desert of skepticism, went far. Then the man had undoubted charm. He was handsome; his manners were distinguished and wholesome, though a trifle foreign; his brain was acute, active; his wit was a joy. In short, he was an unsurpassed companion for a house-bound man. Potter found himself liking Cantor more and more. He had never possessed a close friend, a chum. It seemed as if Cantor were to be a successful aspirant to that position.