Lussey had gotten his checkbook out and begun to scribble furiously.

'You're a good man, Mr. Lussey,' Dr. Pierce had said, taking the check from him and blowing on it, 'with the interests of your fellow citizens always at heart. Now drop your pants and sort of lean over my desk.'

And so it came to pass that the Spruce Harbor Medical facility had as good a data transmission system as could be expected under the circumstances. And there was no reason why the Spruce Harbor Medical Center in Maine could not stand by for the transmission of x-ray photographs, EKGs, and other medical data from the Grogarty Clinic all the way across the continent in San Francisco. Indeed, the operator immediately pushed the buttons that would permit such data transmission.

The other part of the request, that Dr. Grogarty be permitted to speak with Dr. Pierce, did pose a problem. A little blue light above Dr. Pierce's button on the switchboard was illuminated, signifying that Dr. Pierce was in conference.

Dr. Pierce had, in fact, been in conference since half-past four. With him were Dr. John Francis Xavier Maclntyre, a fellow Fellow of the American College of Surgeons; Esther Flanagan, R.N., chief of nursing services and head operating-room nurse at the medical center, and Miss Barbara Jane Miller, an about-to-graduate student nurse.

It had been a full day in the medical center's surgical suite, with both a heavy load of previously scheduled surgery and an extraordinary amount of emergency surgery.

The operator knew that it was Dr. Pierce's custom in such circumstances to repair to his offices, together with those who had worked with him, to review what had taken place on the operating table, and, as he put it, to 'unwind a bit.' When Dr. Pierce was in conference (the operator thought of it as 'when the warning light was lit'), he did not like to be disturbed. As a matter of fact, he violently objected to being disturbed in any event save the most pressing medical emergency and had frequently demonstrated a rather violent burst of temper when his conferences had been interrupted by what he considered unimportant matters.

Therefore, the operator said to the Grogarty Clinic operator, 'Spruce Harbor Medical Center is ready to receive your data, but I regret that Dr. Pierce is in conference and cannot be disturbed.'

'One moment please, operator,' Grogarty Clinic said. There was a pause and then she came back on the line. 'We are now beginning the transmission of data.' There was another pause, and then the Spruce Harbor operator spoke.

'The data transmission is operating satisfactorily,' she reported.

'Dr. Grogarty advises that in the event Dr. Pierce is in conference and not available, he will speak with Dr. John F. X. McIntyre.'

'I'm sorry, operator,' the Spruce Harbor operator said, 'but Dr. McIntyre is also in conference. I'll have him call when he is free.'

'One moment, please, operator,' the Grogarty Clinic operator said.

And then another voice, a male voice, came on the line.

'This is Dr. Grogarty,' he said. His voice sort of boomed. 'You say that Dr.