Isn't that matter enough?"

"That's only a guess. I've got to have time on this," insisted Hal.
"It's the most vital question of policy that the paper has had to face."

"Policy!" grunted Ellis savagely.

"Besides, I've given my word to the Chamber of Commerce Committee that
we wouldn't publish any epidemic news without due warning to them."

"Then it's to be killed?"

"'Wait for orders' proof," said Hal stonily.

"I might have known," sneered Ellis, with an infinite depth of scorn,
and went to bear the bitter message to Wayne.

While the "Clarion" policy trembled in the balance, Dr. Surtaine's
Committee on Suppression was facing a new crisis brought about by the
striking down of Norman Hale, of which they received early information.
Should he die, as was believed probable, the news, whether or not the
full facts got into print, would surely become a focus for the
propagation of alarmist rumors. In their distress, the patriots of
commerce paid a hasty visit to their chief, craving counsel. Having
foreseen the possibility of some such contingency, Dr. Surtaine was
ready with a plan. The committee would enlarge itself, call a meeting of
the representative men of the town, organize an Emergency Health
Committee of One Hundred, and take the field against the onset of
pernicious malaria. This show of fighting force would allay public
alarm, a large fund would be raised, the newspapers would be kept in
thorough subjection, and the disease could be wiped out without undue
publicity or the imperiling of Old Home Week.

"What about the 'Clarion'?" inquired Hollenbeck, of the committee.
"They're still holding off."

"Safe as your hat," Dr. Surtaine assured the questioner with a smile.

"At the meeting you told us you couldn't answer for your son's paper,"
Stensland recalled.

"I can now," said the confident quack. "Just you leave it to me."

He went direct to the "Clarion" office, revolving in his mind the
impending interview. For the first time since the tragedy he anticipated
a meeting with his son without embarrassment, for now he had a definite
topic to talk about, difficult though it might be.

Finding Hal at the editorial desk he went direct to the point.

"Boy-ee, the epidemic is spreading."

"I know it."

"I'm going to take hold of the matter personally, from now on."

"In what way?"

"By organizing a committee of one hundred to cover the city and make a
scientific campaign."

"Are you going to le