"He may not stay here after this," said Jack.
"He did not care to stay here in the beginning, I understand, preferring to go to some more lively place, and it is likely that he will leave after this."
"We'll wait a little and see," answered Percival. "If he goes, that will settle the matter without any trouble. However, I want to see what Brooke will have to say about that paper using your poem without his consent, and putting it under another name."
The boys went to town in Jack's boat, and called at the office of the News, where they found the editor busy as usual.
Jack had the copy of the other paper with him, and showed it to the editor, asking him if he knew anything about it.
"I don't exchange with it," Brooke said, "but some one may have seen the poem in our paper and sent it to him. I'll call him up."
There was a long-distance telephone in the office, and the editor called up the other editor, and said:
"This is Brooke of the Riverton News. How about your printing a poem last week written especially for us, and putting another name to it? The poem was called 'The Message of the Hudson.' You remember it?"
"Yes. It was written by a young lady stopping at the hotel here, and given to me."
"Oh, no, it was not. It was written by a young gentleman of the Hilltop Academy, and written especially for us, and not signed. I have his original manuscript in the office, and he is here now."