addition to two hundred special officers hired from outlying districts, they were able to maintain order only with considerable difficulty. An attitude of reckless abandon was manifest even among ordinarily well-behaved individuals. It was a holiday crowd without the holiday spirit.
"I'm not at all sure Friedmann is the best man to talk to these people tonight," said Arnold, standing up and gazing uneasily around him at the throngs still climbing up and down the aisles in search of seats. "They've come here confidently expecting to be told something that sounds nice and reassuring and instead Friedmann will simply hand them the hard cold facts. We scientists have known the truth for weeks and had a chance to become reconciled to it. But what about the average man whose cosmic outlook is limited to his job and the mortgage on his home out in Brentwood?"
"Be quite a blow to 'em probably," said Stoddard, biting into his hot dog. "Trouble with these theoretical fellows is they act as if the Xi effect had been invented for the sole purpose of letting them test out all their screwy ideas on nuclear structure."
Arnold sat down and began studying his program. "I see Atchison Kane is going to speak, too."
"Atchison Kane. Who's he?"
"Shakespearean actor," Arnold replied. Long ago he had become accustomed to his partner's splendid state of isolation from the world of the stage and screen. "Made a big hit in ‘Richard the Third' recently. I heard him at the Philharmonic last August."
"That so?" said Stoddard. For the tenth time he looked at the great clock over the archway at the east entrance. "What's holding up the procession, anyhow? They were supposed to kickoff half an hour ago."
Others besides Stoddard were getting impatient. So far the crowd had been fairly well-behaved but now it was growing decidedly restless. Someone yelled, "We want Friedmann!" and in an instant thousands of voices were repeating the words over and over in a kind of savage chant. When this failed to produce results, a mob of boys acting as if upon signal, leaped over the parapet onto the field toward the speakers' stand. Before the police could intervene they began tearing down the decorations and smashing the chairs and railing. The dozen or so officers in the vicinity were overwhelmed at first but reinforcements soon gained the upperhand. The crowd was delighted, following every incident of the struggle with fascinated attention. Several men were knocked down and trampled in the melee, or sent reeling from the battle bleeding from lacerations around the head. Suddenly a great shout went up. The speakers surrounded by a husky squad of police were spotted emerging from the south entrance. Interest in the fight evaporated immediately. The floodlights were dimmed
