There was a tense pause. A drop of perspiration rolled down his
cheek-bone and anchored itself stickily on the angle of his jaw. It
tickled abominably, but he did not dare to move for fear of unleashing
the scream which brooded over the situation like a cloud.
At any moment now a howl of terror might rip the silence and bring the
household on the run. And then, the explanations! A second drop of
perspiration started out in the wake of the first.
The large eyes continued to inspect him. They were clouded with sleep.
Suddenly a frightened look came into them, and, as he saw it, Steve
braced his muscles for the shock.
'Here it comes!' he said miserably to himself. 'Oh, Lord! We're off!'
He searched in his brain for speech, desperately, as the best man at a
wedding searches for that ring while the universe stands still, waiting
expectantly.
He found no speech.
The child's mouth opened. Steve eyed him, fascinated. No bird,
encountering a snake, was ever so incapable of movement as he.
'Are you a germ?' inquired William Bannister.
Steve tottered to the cot and sat down on it. The relief was too much
for him.
'Gee, kid!' he said, 'you had my goat then. I've got to hand it to
you.'
His sudden approach had confirmed William Bannister's worst suspicions.
This was precisely how he had expected the germ to behave. He shrank
back on the pillow, gulping.
'Why, for the love of Mike,' said Steve, 'don't you know me, kid? I'm
not a porch-climber. Don't you remember Steve who used to raise Hades
with you at the studio? Darn it, I'm your godfather! I'm Steve!'
William Bannister sat up, partially reassured.
'What's Steve?' he inquired.
'I'm Steve.'
'Why?'
'How do you mean, why?'
The large eyes inspected him gravely.
'I remember,' he said finally.
'Well, don't go forgetting, kid. I couldn't stand a second session like
that. I got a weak heart.'
'You're Steve.'
'That's right. Stick to that and we'll get along fine.'
'I thought you were a germ.'
'A what?'
'They get at you and hurt you.'
'Who said so?'
'Mamie.'
'Are you scared of germs?'
The White Hope nodded gravely.
'I have to be sterilized because of them. Are you sterilized?'
'Nobody ever told me so. But, say, kid, you don't want to be frightened
of germs or microbes or bacilli or any of the rest of the circus. You
don't want to be frightened of nothing. You're the White Hope, the
