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the cause. After a year or so they married. Julie died of multiple sclerosis about three years ago. In her will—she’d inherited from her father, a big Kern County grower—she set up a foundation to fund environmental organizations, particularly the Friends, and she named Hy director of it.” Anne-Marie paused, looking thoughtful. “Rose Wittington said what you did: that it was quite a transformation from CIA—if that’s what he was—to environmentalist. But she hasn’t observed Hy the way I have. Underneath that laid-back exterior, he’s still dangerous.”
    â€œIn what way?”
    â€œWell, consider how he operates, even within the framework of environmentalism. He’s … how can I describe it? Are you familiar with Earth First!?”
    I nodded. Earth First! was an organization that relied on direct confrontational tactics—some called them “eco-terrorism”—to get their point across. While those on the radical end of the spectrum saw little wrong with removing survey markers from construction sites or sabotaging oil-drilling equipment, few condoned such practices as spiking trees—inserting hidden nails into forest trees so that chain saws would be shattered and the flying steel would injure or even kill loggers. I’d seen a news item around the time of Earth Day reporting that Earth First! had renounced the tactic, but with my usual cynicism I had wondered what they’d renounced it in favor of. And later reports of an explosion that injured two of their leaders and was suspected of being triggered by a device of their own manufacture had led me to assume my cynical suspicions were justified.
    â€œIs Hy involved with them?” I asked.
    â€œNo, he’s too much of a maverick to ally himself with any group. The only reason he’s on the board of the Friends and cooperating with the Coalition is because of the connection with the Spaulding Foundation. And I doubt he’d have anything to do with the foundation if he didn’t feel obligated because of Julie’s will. But Hy’s like the Earth Firsters in a way: a genuine crazy man who’ll go up against anybody in any way in order to make them listen.”
    â€œA crusader like you, huh?”
    â€œMuch worse; Hy doesn’t give a hoot for the law. And he’s not afraid of anything—including cops and sheriffs’ deputies with clubs and riot guns. When the campaign to save Tufa Lake was at its hottest, he did plenty of time in various jails. As soon as he served one sentence, he’d get into trouble and end up behind bars again. He claims he was influenced by Martin Luther King and Gandhi; I’d add the kamikaze pilots and Genghis Khan to the list.”
    â€œWas his wife still alive while this was going on?”
    â€œSome of it, but he got much worse after she died. I think she was a steadying influence on him. Rose Wittington says Julie was confined to a wheelchair most of her life, but that didn’t stop her from doing what she wanted. She traveled around the state helping out different groups with both personal efforts and monetary donations; when she came to Tufa Lake she decided it was where she wanted to settle. She was a fighter, like Hy: when the Friends picketed the water department in L.A. she was there. The same for the sit-ins in Sacramento. But Julie was always in control. For a long time after she died, Hy wasn’t.”
    â€œAnd now?”
    She shrugged. “He’s better, but sometimes I think it’s only his responsibilities to the foundation that keep him from going off and … well, doing God knows what.”
    â€œSo Julie Spaulding made him director of her foundation for a very good reason.”
    â€œI guess she did.”
    â€œHas he had any confrontations with Transpacific?”
    â€œNo, he went to the mine site only once, on a public relations tour the corporation gave for concerned