CHAPTER IV
THE SQUARE SUITCASE
Tom Dennis, in the meantime, was making some discoveries.
In the course of the afternoon he dropped in at his old newspaper office with the object of seeing the boys and trying to get some special assignments on the Pacific Coast. In this latter endeavour he was more successful than he had dared hope, for the editor declared at once in favour of a series of articles on the Canadian training-camps in the vicinity of Vancouver, and even spoke of syndicating them.
Thus, when Dennis returned to the city-room, he was in hopeful vein. Most of his old friends were still on the staff, with some new men; he said nothing about his marriage, or about his failure in Marshville, but stated that he had been called to the Pacific Coast on unexpected business, and let it go at that.
Then Margate entered, and gripped his hand with a shout. Margate was the "big man", who covered political conventions and topics of country-wide interest. It appeared that Margate had himself just returned from the Coast where he had been doing some big things with the moving-picture stars. Dennis retired into a corner with him, and in the course of their chat casually inquired:
"I suppose you never heard of a sea-captain out there by the name of Pontifex, did you? It's an odd sort of moniker——"
Margate grinned.
"Heard of him? I should say yes! He's the only chap I ever heard of who put it all over the motion-picture people. Why, they're yelling about it yet!"
"How's that?" asked Dennis in unaffected surprise.
"It seems this chap Pontifex owned an old whaling brig. She was laid up at San Pedro, in pretty bad shape, and the Greatorex people wanted to use her in a couple of scenarios. So Pontifex leased her to them—savvy? About six months ago they got through with her—and then they discovered something. In his lease, Pontifex had slipped over a couple of jokers; they had to refit the old hooker from top to bottom and make her ready for sea. I forget how many thousands it cost them. I remember she was sent up to him at Vancouver, just before I came East, and everyone was slipping the laugh to the Greatorex folks at the way a whaling skipper had put it over them. And believe me, the job was done right! It takes a genius to manage a stunt like that nowadays."