Mystery of the Third Mine by Robert Lowndes

Author:Robert Lowndes
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Published: 2013-09-13T04:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10 Sealed Permit

Webster showed signs of distress at the accusation and raised his hand appealingly. “No, no,” he said. “I do not mean any such implication. This measure isn’t directed at you, fellow."

“But it might as well be." Peter shot back.

"I'm afraid you are right about that. The fact is that you couldn’t get through."

Alan Clay chuckled dryly and stretched his legs. “I don’t know about that, Webster. I don’t know that we couldn’t at all, particularly since we know about the Patrol. As a matter of fact, I don’t see what your cordon can do at all, except to prevent honest people from reaching Mars. Most folks will stand by when they hear the trip’s forbidden for the time being. But you don’t imagine that the crooks will worry about that, do you?”

Webster smiled wryly. “Of course not. I assume the attempt will be made.”

“Then how in blazes do you figure it can be stopped? The Patrol and Ama together haven't enough ships to blockade the Belt so that no ship could possibly get through. Only one has to—one ship which won’t decelerate when challenged by the Patrol, if they spot it at all.”

“You think I haven’t thought of that?” Webster sat down and wiped his brow. "I'm in a desperate position; I admit it! I have a personal stake in this business. Ama, and Laura’s future in Ama, is all that means anything to me. I’ll stop at nothing to secure our position. I haven’t any illusions of being indispensable to Ceres. Certainly, if Ama fails now, something like it will succeed again in the future.

“I know what you can say. You can accuse me of sacrificing you and others in order to gain my own objective at my own time. I’ve thought of that too!” He picked up the viola and began to play again, his voice becoming more calm. “I couldn’t set up ideal conditions. I’ve had to work with conditions as they were.”

“Webster,” Clay said, “that excuse has been used by hundreds of men to justify every manner of crime. I’m not talking about scoundrels, but honest, well-meaning men who wanted to accomplish something worth-while. They decided that the end justified the means. You've studied Earths history. Well, you’ve let yourself forget that your means shape the end. Once you start trampling on other people, you set up a chain of actions which you cannot break. You have to commit larger and larger injustices to hold on to what you gained by the first small ones.”

Webster lifted his shoulders and let them fall. “Injustice. That's a tricky word. You have to make all kinds of selection, Clay. Look at these claim jumpers and pilferers—do you suppose they consider themselves as ‘evil’ men? Of course not! They see themselves as victims of "injustice/

‘‘When your luck is bad, and all legal means of getting what you want seem to be closed off, then you feel that the law itself is ‘unjust/ It's a state of mind, and it isn’t healthy, but you feel it nonetheless.

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