"There"s pretty hot talk going. Somebody"s been helping along by serving free drinks."
"Now who could that be, I wonder?"
"Maybe some of our tenement-owning politician friends who aren"t keen about having to-morrow"s "Clarion" appear."
"We ought to have a reporter down there, Mac."
"Denton"s there. Well, as there"s nothing doing, I"ll tackle a little work." And seating himself at his desk beside the broad window Ellis proceeded to annihilate some telegraph copy, fresh off the wire. With the big tenement story spread, the morrow"s paper would be straitened for s.p.a.ce. Excusing himself to his father, Hal stepped into his private office--and recoiled in uttermost amazement. There, standing in the further doorway, lovely, palpitant, with the color flushing in her cheeks and the breath fluttering in her throat, stood Esme Elliot.
"Oh!" she gasped, stretching out her hands to him. "I"ve tried so to get you by "phone. There"s a mob coming--"
"Yes, I know," said Hal gently. He led her to a chair. "We"re ready for them."
"Are you? I"m so glad. I was afraid you wouldn"t know in time."
"How did you find out?"
"I"ve been working with Mr. Hale down in the district. I heard rumors of it. Then I listened to what the people said, and I hurried here in my car to warn you. They"re drunk, and mean trouble."
"That was good of you! I appreciate it."
"No. It was a debt. I owed it to the "Clarion." You"ve been--splendid about the typhus."
"Worthington doesn"t look at it that way," returned Hal, with a rather grim smile.
"When they understand, they will."
"Perhaps. But, see here, you can"t stay. There may be danger. It"s awfully good of you to come. But you must get away."
She looked at him sidelong. In her coming she had been the new Esme, the Esme who was Norman Hale"s most unselfish and unsparing worker, the Esme who thought for others, all womanly. But, now that the strain had relaxed, she reverted, just a little, to her other self. It was, for the moment, the Great American Pumess who spoke:--
"Won"t you even say you"re glad to see me?"
"Glad!" The echo leaped to his lips and the fire to his eyes as the old unconquered longing and pa.s.sion surged over him. "I don"t think I"ve known what gladness is since that night at your house."
Her eyes faltered away from his. "I don"t think I quite understand," she said weakly; then, with a change to quick resolution:--
"There is something I must tell you. You have a right to know it. It"s about the paper. Will you come to see me to-morrow?"
"Yes. But go now. No! Wait!"
From without sounded a dull murmur pierced through with an occasional whoop, jubilant rather than threatening.
"Too late," said Hal quietly. "They"re coming."
"I"m not afraid."
"But I am--for you. Stay in this room. If they should break into the building, go up those stairs and get to the roof. They won"t come there."
He went into the outer room, closing the door behind him.
From both directions and down a side street as well the dwellers in the slums straggled into the open s.p.a.ce in front of the "Clarion" office. To Hal they seemed casual, purposeless; rather prankish, too, like a lot of urchins out on a lark. Several bore improvised signs, uncomplimentary to the "Clarion." They seemed surprised when they encountered the rope barrier with its warning placards. There were mutterings and queries.
"No serious harm in them," opined Dr. Elliot, to whom Hal had gone to see whether he wanted anything. "Just mischief. A few rocks maybe, and then they"ll go home. Look at old Mac."
Opposite them, at his brilliantly lighted window desk, sat McGuire Ellis, in full view of the crowd below, conscientiously blue-penciling telegraph copy.
"Hey, Mac!" yelled an acquaintance in the street. "Come down and have a drink."
The a.s.sociate editor lifted his head. "Don"t be young," he retorted. "Go home and sleep it off." And reverted to his task.
"What are we doin" here, anyway?" roared some thirster for information.
n.o.body answered. But, thus recalled to a purpose, the mob pressed against the ropes.
"Ladies _and_ gentlemen!" A great, rounded voice boomed out above them, drawing every eye to the farthermost window where stood Dr. Surtaine, his chest swelling with ready oratory.
"Hooray!" yelled the crowd. "Good Old Doc!"--"He pays the freight."--"Speech!"
"Say, Doc," bawled a waggish soul, "I gotta corn, marchin" up here. Will Certina cure it?"
And another burst into the final lines of a song then popular; in which he was joined by several of his fellows:
"Father, he drinks Seltzer.
Redoes, like h.e.l.l!
(_Crescendo_.) He drinks Cer-tee-nah!"
"Ladies _and_ gentlemen," boomed the wily charlatan. "Unaccustomed as I am to _extempore_ speaking, I cannot let pa.s.s this opportunity to welcome you. We appreciate this testimonial of your regard for the "Clarion." We appreciate, also, that it is a warm night and a thirsty one. Therefore, I suggest that we all adjourn back to the Old Twelfth Ward, where, if the authorities will kindly look the other way, I shall be delighted to provide liquid refreshments for one and all in which to drink to the health and prosperity of an enlightened free press."
The crowd rose to him with laughter. "Good old Sport!"--"Mine"s Certina."--"Come down and make good."--"Free booze, free speech, free press!"--"You"re on, Doc! You"re on."
"He"s turned the trick," growled Dr. Elliot to Hal. "He"s a smooth one!"
Indeed, the crowd wavered, with that peculiar swaying which presages a general movement. At the south end there was a particularly dense gathering, and there some minor struggle seemed to be in progress. Cries rose: "Let him through."--"What"s he want?"
"It"s Max Veltman," said Hal, catching sight of a wild, strained face.
"What is he up to?"
The former "Clarion" man squirmed through the front rank and crawled slowly under the ropes. Above the murmur of confused tones, a voice of terror shrilled out:
"He"s got a bomb."
The ma.s.s surged back from the spot. Veltman, moving forward upon the unprotected south end of the press, was fumbling at his pocket. "I"ll fix your free and enlightened press," he screamed.
Dr. Elliot turned on Hal with an imperative question.
"Is it true, do you think? Will he do it? Quick!"
"Crazy," said Hal.