Part 26 (1/2)

”And f-f oiks gen'ally think you're for Bowman, don't they?”.

”Yes.”

”And so his side's restin' easier in their minds?”

”Some,” says Wiggins.

”Well, then,” says Mark, ”s'posin' I was to p-print a story in my paper sayin' that the row between you and Brown was made up, and that you and Brown had met and hobn.o.bbed and that you'd agreed, for some reason or another, to wait till the convention and, when the f-fight got good and hot, to make the d-delegates you control vote, not for Bowman, but for Whittaker? Folks 'u'd be int'rested in that story, eh?”

”Say, kid,” says Wiggins, jumping up onto his feet, ”who sent you here?”

”n.o.body,” says Mark. ”We just come after the p-printin'.”

”What you say is bosh,” says Wiggins.

”It's _so_,” says Mark, ”and we know it's so, and you know it's so.

What,” says he, ”if you was overheard t-talkin' up in the court-room awhile ago?”

Mr. Wiggins sort of caved in. ”You haven't told anybody?”

”Course not. Sich p'litical information hain't much good when you give it away.”

”My dad's for Whittaker, anyhow,” says I.

”So's mine,” says Mark, ”but politics is politics. How about your influence, Mr. Wiggins?”

”You get it,” says Wiggins, sharp-like. ”Go tell Brown to go up to the court-room.”

We did that, and Brown was pretty surprised, but he went. We followed along, and there was Wiggins waiting for us. He told Brown what Mark had said to him, and Brown began to laugh as hard as he could, and then got serious.

”You win, kids,” says he, ”providin' you can keep quiet.”

”We git the p-printin'?”

”You do,” says Brown, ”but how Wiggins and I will explain it to certain newspaper men, particularly the Eagle Center _Clarion_, I don't know.”

”Was the Eagle Center _Clarion_ goin' to git it?” says I.

”They figured on it pretty strongly,” says Mr. Brown.

And that's how we landed the county printing. It was all by Mark Tidd's using his brains. All he needed was a hint, and he reasoned the thing right out, and it was so like he reasoned it. It made Mark pretty famous with politicians before it was all done, for after the convention, when Whittaker got the nomination, the story leaked out, and everybody laughed at Brown and Wiggins, and when folks found out Mark hadn't really heard a thing, but just jumped at conclusions and made a bluff, they laughed harder than ever.

That was all right, but what really counted was that we got a dandy piece of business that paid well and gave the paper a lot of reputation and standing around the county. It got us a lot of subscribers, too, because there are folks that have to read about the county proceedings.

Mr. Wiggins took us to dinner and made a lot of us, and didn't hold a grudge at all. After that we caught the train and went home, feeling like we had done a pretty good day's work.

CHAPTER XIII