"Gee whiz!" ejaculated Professor Hooker. "When is this interesting event going to take place?"
"I calculate that the comet and the asteroid will come into collision at three o'clock on the morning of the eighteenth of next month. You can come over and see it if you like."
"I'll be here," Bennie assured him, jotting down the date. "And now," he added, pulling his note-book from his pocket, "be a good fellow and solve this equation for me, will you?"
"Good Lord!" protested Thornton. "Really, don't you think it's almost bedtime? I'm no good outside my own line, anyway."
"This is your line," retorted Bennie. "Look here, Thornton; don't go back on me. All this fooling-around of mine with radium and that sort of stuff has weakened my mathematics. I've simply got to solve this equation. I almost solved it this morning," he added, with a shamefaced recollection of the girl in the tan suit.
"There's no use your calling on me," answered Thornton definitely. "It would take a week for me to catch up with you, anyhow."
Hooker's face clearly showed his disappointment.
"But, Thornton," he protested, "who else is there but you? You're the most expert mathematician in America!"
The astronomer laughed.
"I wish I were," he replied. "But the fact of the matter is my mathematics is by no means my strong point. Anyhow, I haven't the time. It's simply out of the question."