into
this paper: half of all I've got."

"How much did you pay for it?" inquired Ellis: "since we're telling each
other our real names."

"Two hundred and thirty thousand dollars."

"Whee-ee-ee-ew!" Both his auditors joined in the whistle.

"They asked two-fifty."

"Half of that would have bought," said Sterne.

Hal digested that information in silence for a minute. "I suppose I was
easy. Hurry never yet made a good bargain. But, now that I've got this
paper I'm going to run it myself."

"On the rocks," prophesied McGuire Ellis. "Utter and complete shipwreck.
I'm glad I'm off."

"Is it your habit, Mr. Ellis, to run at the first suggestion of
disaster?"

Ellis looked his questioner up and down. "Say the rest of it," he
barked.

"Why, it seems to me you're still an officer of this ship. Doesn't it
enter into your ethics somewhere that you ought to stick by her until
the new captain can fill your place, and not quit in the face of the
shipwreck you foresee?"

"Humph," grunted McGuire Ellis, "I guess you're not quite as young as I
thought you were. How long would you want me to stay?"

"About a year."

"What!"

"On an unbreakable contract. To be editorial manager. You see, I'm
prepared to buy ideals."

"What about my opinion of amateur journalism?"

"You'll just have to do the best you can about that."

"Give me till to-morrow to think it over."

"All right."

Ellis put down the hat and cane which he had picked up preparatory to
his departure.

"Not going out after those hundred drinks, eh, Mac?" laughed Sterne.

"Indefinitely postponed," replied the other.

"The first thing to do," said Hal decisively, "is to make amends. Mr.
Sterne, the 'Clarion' is to print a full retraction of the attacks upon
my father, at once."

"Yes, sir," assented Sterne, slavishly responsive to the new authority.

Not so McGuire Ellis. "If you do that you'll make a fool of your own
paper," he said bluntly.

"Make a fool of the paper by righting a rank injustice?"

"Just the point. It isn't a rank injustice."

"See here, Mr. Sterne: isn't it a fact that this attack was made because
my father doesn't advertise with you?"

The editor twisted uneasily in his chair. "A newspaper's got to look
out for its own interests," he asserted defensively.

"Please answer my question."

"Well--yes; I suppose it is so."

"Then you're simply operating a blackmailing scheme to get the Certina
advertising for the 'Clarion.'"