CHAPTER XIV IN WHICH HERBERT IS GIVEN AN UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITY TO

DISTINGUISH HIMSELF

After he had been on the Argus for about a month, Herbert felt entirely at home. He managed to get along very smoothly with all the members of the staff. Blakeley, the city editor, was especially pleased with the new addition to his local force. He found that he was punctual, industrious and anxious to do his work to the very best of his ability. The other reporters at the same time looked on him as an agreeable fellow who was willing to do them a good turn whenever he had the chance to do so. At the end of his second month on the paper he was gratified at the receipt of an unsolicited increase in his salary. His particular friend on the Argus, Francis Tomlin, obtained a promotion at the same time; and the two young men put their heads together and decided to seek a pleasant room near the office. After a search that consumed nearly all the idle hours of a whole week, they finally obtained an apartment which had the added advantage of a neat and well kept bath-room. Herbert lost no time in removing his effects from the modest quarters which he had occupied since his first arrival in New York. The two young men were together very much, and the fact that they were employed at night and had many hours of leisure during the day gave them the chance of strolling about the city or seeking amusements together at a time when most other men were busily engaged in their trades and professions.

The new room, which was comfortably furnished in the first place, rapidly grew more habitable through the skill and good taste of the two reporters. The gift of a set of books from home first gave Herbert the idea of accumulating a library. Tomlin joined with him, and in a surprisingly short time they were the possessors of quite a valuable little library which counted among its principal assets several important books of reference.

One day Herbert was delighted to receive a visit from Mr. Anderson, who had been his school-teacher for so many years in Cleverly. In honor of the event he begged off from the office for the night, and secured a similar privilege for Tomlin. The three men sat in the room till long past midnight, chatting about books and newspapers and other topics of a congenial nature. Mr. Anderson told the story of “barring out day” at the school in Cleverly, and the recital was done so well that it filled Tomlin with delight and caused him to laugh with such heartiness that the tears fairly ran down his cheeks.

On another occasion a little later in the year Noah Brooks, the editor of the Cleverly Banner, visited New York, and while in the city was the guest of Herbert Harkins. The young man was very much pleased at the thought of entertaining the veteran editor, who had been such a good friend to him in Cleverly. He took Tomlin into his confidence, and between them they planned a program which kept Mr. Brooks engaged every minute of the day and night during his four days’ stay in the metropolis. In fact Herbert exhausted his resources in showing the visitor what he was pleased to call “the time of his life.” As the three men walked along Broadway together, Mr. Brooks looking up at the high buildings on either side of him, said musingly:

“Herbert, it’s been over forty years since I visited this town before, and I want to say that there have been many changes since then.”

“I should say so,” replied Herbert, with a laugh; “in fact, although I have been here only a few months I can see changes that are going on at the present time.”

“Yes, many changes,” assented the old editor, nodding his head in a reflective manner; “and these changes are not only in the big buildings, but in the big men. I may be mistaken, but I don’t think you produce the kind of men that we had in the days when I was in my prime. However, I won’t insist on that. It may simply be the natural thought of every old man.”

“Who would you regard as the most conspicuous man that was here when you visited the city last?” asked Herbert, anxious to draw upon his friend’s inexhaustible fund of recollections.

“Well,” he replied, “that’s a pretty hard question to answer after all these years; but I think that perhaps good old Horace Greeley was the best of them all. When I was here last I met him in the flesh. Now all that you have of him is that statue in front of the Tribune Building and the memory of his honest, old fashioned life.”

The old gentleman sighed at this as if he were not quite sure that the good old times would ever come again. Indeed he was a type of man very similar to the famous editor, whom he was accustomed to look upon as the greatest man of his day and generation. Mr. Brooks was careless in his dress, quaint in his manner and unyielding in his integrity. Tomlin enjoyed the visit of the country editor, if anything, more than Herbert; and he was really sorry when the trip came to an end, and he went with Herbert to the depot to bid good-by to the whole-souled old man.

In the meantime Herbert continued to make satisfactory progress in the Argus office. He was receiving all kinds of assignments now, and he soon had the reputation of being a man who did his work perfectly. More than this, he was marked down as a reliable reporter, which is a very important thing on any newspaper. The city editor felt that when an assignment was placed in his hand it was sure to be covered and the copy turned in at the earliest possible moment. One morning as they were leaving the house together, Tomlin said to Herbert:

“Some day, old man, you will get a very big thing to do, and it may be the means of either making or breaking you.”

The occasion came sooner than expected. That very morning the city editor summoned Herbert to his private office, and said:

“See here, Harkins, I am going to give you a chance to show what there is in you. I have here what I regard as a very delicate and difficult piece of work. It requires perseverance, and I am willing to give you the job if you will tell me that you will stick at it and never quit until your efforts have been crowned with success. Can you give me that promise?”

Herbert smiled at this vigorous presentation of the case, and said:

“Well, Mr. Blakeley, if it is a piece of newspaper work that comes within my ability, I feel reasonably sure of coming out successful.”

“Well,” said the other, in his short, snappy tones, “here is a letter. It’s a small clue as a starting point. Read it over, and then come back to me.”

Herbert went to his desk and read the letter as directed. It was from a poor woman who had been induced to send $2 of her hard earned money to a concern which promised to teach her how to paint on china within two weeks, and after that time to furnish her with steady employment which would pay her anywhere from $10 to $20 a week, according to her speed and ability. She said in her letter that she had sent the money, and in return received a flimsy circular which gave some crude and utterly impracticable directions of how to paint. The thing was worthless to her and her $2 wasted.

When Herbert had finished reading this, he returned to Blakeley and said:

“Have you any further directions?”

“No,” was the reply, “you will have to work on your own resources from now on. I suppose that eventually the postal authorities will hear of this swindle and refuse to permit this sort of thing to go through the mails; but in the meantime we know about it and we want to get the credit of stopping it at once. You take the address of this woman and go ahead and see what you can make of it.”

Herbert called upon the woman that afternoon, and in less than an hour had obtained a very good story from her, backed up by a sworn statement of her experience with the concern. At the same time he learned the names and addresses of ten other persons who had been swindled in a similar manner. Altogether four days were consumed in visiting and interviewing these persons. Some of them who had natural ability, had learned to paint on china in spite of the bungling directions sent out by the concern; but when they wrote to the company and asked for the employment that was to pay them from $10 to $20 a week their letters were ignored. Altogether the young reporter had what might be called a first class story. When he had all of his facts in good shape he went to the city editor again, and said:

“Mr. Blakeley, I want you to give me authority to employ a private detective. I have everything in perfect condition at present, and all I need is the climax, which I hope to bring about at noon to-morrow. In other words, it is necessary to arrest someone connected with this concern. If we do this, I will have plenty of witnesses, and we can have the scoundrel held for court.”

“Capital! Capital!” shouted Blakeley. “I will give you the authority to employ a detective at once. How do you propose going about it?”

“That is quite simple,” answered Herbert; “the company has a box in the post office. I have sent a decoy letter, which should be placed in the box between eleven and twelve o’clock to-morrow. They probably employ a go-between, or a messenger, who gathers up the letters and takes them to the head swindler. We must arrest this person, whoever he is, and probably with a little ingenuity we may be able to extort a confession from him, and then go after the other fellows. In the meantime I am going back to my room and will start to typewrite the story. I have it blocked out, so that we can make a full page scare out of it. We ought to have a picture of the man who comes after the letters, and then, if possible, a photograph of the head swindler, and interviews with all the victims.”

Blakeley looked at the young man with admiration written in every line of his countenance. He put out his short, pudgy hand, and slapped Herbert on the back.

“Harkins, you are all right. You’ll do. Go ahead, my boy, and I wish you luck in your undertaking.”