For a.s.surance, Dr. Elliot was sent for and added his diagnosis. Ellis got authoritative interviews with both men, and the "Clarion"s" great, potential sensation was now fully ripe for print. Denton the reporter had done the previous work well. His "story," leaded out and with subheads, ran flush to two pages of the paper, and every paragraph of it struck fire. It would, as Ellis said, set off a ton of dynamite beneath sleepy Worthington. That night Veltman "pulled" a proof, and Ellis stayed far into the morning, pasting up a dummy of the article for Hal"s inspection and final judgment.
It was on Thursday that Norman Hale was taken to the hospital. Friday noon McGuire Ellis laid before his princ.i.p.al the carefully constructed dummy with the brief comment:
"There"s the epidemic story."
Hal accepted and read it in silence. Once or twice he made a note. When he had finished, he turned to find Ellis"s gaze fixed upon him.
"We ought to run it Monday," said Ellis. "We can round it all up by then."
Monday is the dead day of journalism, the day for which news articles which do not demand instant production are reserved, both to liven up a dull paper and because the sensation produced is greater. However, the sensation inevitable to the publishing of this article, as Hal instantly realized, would be enormous on any day.
"It"s big stuff," said he, with a long breath.
Ellis nodded. "Shall I release it for Monday?"
"N-n-no," came the dubious reply.
"It"s been held already for ten days."
"Then what does it matter if we hold it a little longer?"
"Human lives, maybe. 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 a.s.sured 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 antic.i.p.ated a meeting with his son without embarra.s.sment, 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 let people know that it"s typhus?"
"Sh-sh-sh! So you know, do you? Well, the important thing now is to see that others don"t find out. Don"t even whisper the word. Malaria"s our cue; pernicious malaria. What"s the use of scaring every one to death?
We"ll call a public meeting for next week--"
"Publicity is the last thing you want, I should think."
"Semi-public, I should have said. The epidemic has gone so far that people are beginning to take notice. We"ve got to rea.s.sure them and the right kind of an Emergency Health Committee is the way to do it, Belford Couch is working up the meeting now. I"ve kept him over on purpose for it. He"s the best little diplomat in the proprietary business. And Yours Truly will be elected Chairman of the Committee. It"ll cost us a ten-thousand-dollar donation to the fund, but it"s worth it to the business."
"To the business? I don"t quite see how."
"Simple as a pin! When it"s all over and we"re ready to let the account of it get into print, Dr. Surtaine, proprietor of Certina, will be the princ.i.p.al figure in the campaign. What"s that worth in advertising to the year"s business? Not that I"m doing it for that. I"m doing it to save Old Home Week."
"With a little profit on the side."
Dr. Surtaine deemed it politic to ignore the tone of the commentary.
"Why not? n.o.body"s hurt by it. You"ll be on the Central Committee, Boy-ee."
"No; I don"t think so."
"Why not?"
"I think I"d better keep out of the movement, Dad."
"As you like. And you"ll see that the "Clarion" keeps out of it, too?"
"So that"s it."
"Yes, Boy-ee: that"s it. You can see, for yourself, that a newspaper sensation would ruin everything just now--and also ruin the paper that sprung it."
"So I heard from Elias M. Pierce sometime since."
"For once Pierce is right."
"Are you asking me to suppress the epidemic story?"