h a sense of
desire.

Although Stuart's instructions were to see the Managing Editor, the
young fellow who came out to see what he wanted, brought him up to the
City Editor's desk. The latter looked up quickly.

"Are you the boy Dinville cabled about?"

"Yes, sir," the boy answered. Here, though the City Editor was ten
times more commanding a personality than the vice-consul, the boy felt
more at ease.

"Ever do any reporting?"

"No, sir."

"What's this story? Just the main facts!"

"Are you Mr. ----" the boy mentioned the name of the Managing Editor.

"I'll act for him," said the City Editor promptly.

Stuart's square chin went out.

"I came up to see him personally," he answered.

The City Editor knew men.

"That's the way to get an interview, my son," he said. "All right, I'll
take you in to the Chief. If things don't go your way, come and see me
before you go. I might try you on space, just to see how you shape.
Dinville generally knows what he's talking about."

Stuart thanked him, and very gratefully, for he realized that the curt
manner was merely that of an excessively busy man with a thousand things
on his mind. A moment later, he found himself in the shut-in office of
the Managing Editor.

"You are a youngster," he said with a cordial smile, emphasizing the
verb, and shaking hands with the boy. "Well, that's the time to begin.
Now, Lad, I've time enough to hear all that you've got to say that is
important, and I haven't a second to listen to any frills. Tell
everything that you think you have a right to tell and begin at the
beginning."

During the voyage from Havana, Stuart had rehearsed this scene. He did
not want to make the same mistake that he had made with the vice-consul,
and he told his story as clearly as he could, bearing in mind the "Who,"
"What," "Why," "When" and "Where" of Dinville's advice.

The Managing Editor nodded approvingly.

"I think," he said reflectively, "you may develop the news sense. Of
course, you've told a good deal of stuff which is quite immaterial, and,
likely enough, some of the good bits you've left out. That's to be
expected. It takes a great many years of training to make a first-class
reporter.

"Now, let me see if I can guess a little nearer to the truth of this
plot than you did.

"You say that the only three phrases you can be sure that you heard were
'Mole St. Nicholas,' 'naval base' and 'Panama.' That isn't much. Yet I
think it is fairly cle