"Boys," said the foreman, without the change of a muscle in his pasty-looking face, "Murdoch"s hired a proxy. I"ll go up for copy."
He stumped upstairs to what he called the "sanctum." The door stood open. Mr. Black"s eyes blinked rapidly when he saw Mary at the editor"s table; but he did not utter a word.
"Good-morning, Mr. Black," said Mary, holding out Mr. Murdoch"s ma.n.u.script and a number of printed clippings. She rapidly told him what they were, and how each of them was to be printed. Mr. Black heard her to the end, and then he said:
"Good-morning, ma"am. Is your name Murdoch, ma"am?"
"No, sir. Miss Ogden," said Mary. "But no one need be told that Mr.
Murdoch is not here. I do not care to see anybody, unless it"s necessary."
"Yes, ma"am," said Mr. Black. "We"ll go right along, ma"am. We"re glad the _Eagle_ is to come out on time, ma"am."
He was very respectful, as if the idea of having a young girl as editor awed him; and he backed out of the office, with both hands full of copy, to stump down-stairs and tell his two journeymen:
"It"s all right, boys. Bless me! I never saw the like before."
He explained the state of affairs, and each in turn soon managed to make an errand up-stairs, and then to come down again almost as awed as Mr. Black had been.
"She"s a driver," said the foreman. "She was made for a boss. She has it in her eye."
Even Jack, when he was sent up after copy, was a little astonished.
"That"s the way father looks," he thought, "whenever he begins to lose his temper. The men mind him then, too; but he has to be waked up first. I know how she feels. She"s bound the _Eagle_ shall come out on time!"
Even Jack did not appreciate how responsibility was waking up Mary Ogden, or how much older she felt than when she left Crofield; but he had an idea that she was taller, and that her eyes had become darker.
Mr. Bones, the man of all work in the front office below, was of the opinion that she was very tall, and that her eyes were very black, and that he did not care to go up-stairs again; for he had blundered into the sanctum, supposing that Mr. Murdoch was there, and remarking as he came:
"Sa-ay, that there underdone gawk that helps edit the _Inquirer_, he was jist in, lookin" for--yes, ma"am! Beg pardon, ma"am! I"m only Bones--"
"What did the gentleman want, Mr. Bones?" asked Mary, with much dignity. "Mr. Murdoch is at home. He is ill. Is it anything I can attend to?"
"Oh, no, ma"am; nothing, ma"am. He"s a blower. We don"t mind him, ma"am. I"ll go down right away, ma"am. I"ll see Mr. Black, ma"am.
Thank you, ma"am."
He withdrew with many bows; and while down-stairs he saw Jack, and he not only saw, but felt, that something very new and queer had happened to the Mertonville _Eagle_.
Both Mary and Jack were aware that there was a rival newspaper, but it had not occurred to them that they were at all interested in the _Inquirer_, or in its editors, beyond the fact that both papers were published on Thursdays, and that the _Eagle_ was the larger.
The printers worked fast that day, as if something spurred them on, and Mr. Black was almost bright when he reported to Mary how much they had done during the day.
"The new boy"s the best "devil" we ever had, ma"am," said he. "Please say to Mr. Murdoch we"d better keep him."
"Thank you, Mr. Black," said she. "I hope Mr. Murdoch will soon be well."
He stumped away, and it seemed to her as if her dignity barely lasted until she and Jack found themselves in Mr. Murdoch"s garden, on their way home. It broke completely down as they were going between the sweet-corn and the tomatoes, and there they both stopped and laughed heartily.
"But, Molly," Jack exclaimed, when he recovered his breath, "we"ll have to print the liveliest kind of an _Eagle_, or the _Inquirer_ will get ahead of us. I"m going out, after supper, all over town, to pick up news. If I can only find some boys I know here, they could tell me a lot of good items. The boys know more of what"s going on than anybody."
"I"d like to go with you," said Mary. "Stir around and find out all you can."
"I know what to do," said Jack, with energy, and if he had really undertaken to do all he proceeded to tell her, it would have kept him out all night.
CHAPTER VIII.
CAUGHT FOR A BURGLAR.
Supper was ready when Jack and Mary went into the house, and Mrs.
Murdoch was eager that they should eat at once. She seemed very placidly to take it for granted that things were going properly in the _Eagle_ office. Her husband had been ill before, and the paper had somehow lived along, and she was not the kind of woman to fret about it.
"He"s been worrying," she said to Mary, "princ.i.p.ally about town news.
He"s afraid the _Inquirer_ "ll get ahead of you. It might be good to see him."
"I"ll see him," said Mary.
"Mary! Mary!" came faintly in reply to her kindly greeting. "Local items, Mary. Society Notes--the flood--logs--bridges--dams--fires.
Brief Mention. Town Improvement Society--the Sociable--anything!"
"Jack will be out after news as soon as he eats his supper," said Mary.
"He"ll find all there is to find. The printers did a splendid day"s work."
"The doctor says not to tell me about anything," said the sick man, despondently. "You"ll fill the paper somehow. Do the best you can, till I get well."
She did not linger, for Mrs. Murdoch was already pulling her sleeve.
The three were soon seated at the table, and hardly was a cup of tea poured before Mrs. Murdoch remarked:
"Mary," she said, "Miss Glidden called here to-day, with Mrs. Judge Edwards, in her carriage. They were sorry to find you out. So did Mrs. Mason, and so did Mrs. Lansing, and Mrs. Potter. They wanted you to go riding, and there"s a lawn-tennis party coming. I told them all that Mr. Murdoch was sick, and you were editing the _Eagle_, and Jack was, too. Miss Glidden"s very fond of you, you know. So is Mrs.
Potter. Her husband wishes he knew what to send Jack for saving his wife from being drowned."
This was delivered steadily but not rapidly, and Mary needed only to say she would have been glad to see them all.
"I didn"t save anybody," said Jack. "If the logs had hit the bridge while we were on it, nothing could have saved us."
Mary was particularly glad that none of her new friends were coming in to spend the evening, for she felt she had done enough for one day.
Mrs. Murdoch, however, told her of a "Union Church Sociable," to be held at the house of Mrs. Edwards, the next Thursday evening, and said she had promised to bring Miss Ogden. Of course Mary said she would go, but Jack declined.
After supper, Jack was eager to set out upon his hunt after news-items.
"I mustn"t let a soul know what I"m doing," he said to Mary. "We"ll see whether I can"t find out as much as the _Inquirer"s_ man can."
He hurried away from the house, but soon ceased to walk fast and began to peer sharply about.
"There"s a new building going up," he said, as he turned a corner; "I"ll find out about it."
So he did, but it was only "by the way"; he really had a plan, and the next step took him to Mr. Prodger"s livery-stable.