Tom had no idea as to what Ruth Fielding was getting at through this questioning of the beaming Hebe who waited on them at breakfast. And he was quite as much in the dark as to his friend’s motive when Ruth announced their first visit to be to the office of the Herringport Harpoon, the local news sheet.
CHAPTER XVII
JOHN, THE HERMIT’S, CONTRIBUTION
A man with bushy hair, a pencil stuck over his ear, and wearing an ink-stained apron, met them in the office of the Harpoon. This was Ezra Payne, editor and publisher of the weekly news-sheet, and this was his busiest day. The Harpoon, Ruth had learned, usually went into the mails on this day.
“Tut, tut! I see. Is this a joke?” Mr. Payne pursed his lips and wrinkled his brow in uncertainty.
“A whole edition, Miss? Wall, I dunno. I do have hard work selling all the edition some weeks. But I have reg’lar subscribers——”
“This will not interfere with your usual edition of the Harpoon,” she hastened to assure him.
“How’s that, Miss?”