Ever since Arthur Brisbane had come to Laurel, Jack had been on his toes....
"Brisbane brought me a breath of what it must mean to be a big newspaper man in the world outside," said Travers, as he stretched and yawned, "why don't we," he continued, "start something to show 'em we're alive, and not dead like so many of the intellects on the Hill!"
"—s all right to talk about starting something ... that's easy to do. The hell of it is, to stop it, after you've got it started," philosophised "The Colonel"....
"Just what is it that you propose starting?" asked practical, pop-eyed Tom Jenkins.
"Oh, anything that will cause excitement!" waved Travers, serenely.
"If you boys really want some excitement ... and want to do some service for the community at the same time,—I've got a scheme to suggest ... something I've been thinking over for a long time," suggested Jerome Miller, president of the club....
"Tell us what it is, Jerome!"
"The Bottoms ... you know how rotten it is down there ... nigger whorehouses ... every other house a bootlegger's joint ... blind pigs ... blind tigers, for the students....
"We might show up the whole affair....
"—how the city administration thrives on the violation of the law from that quarter ... how the present administration depends on crime and the whiskey elements to keep it in power by their vote....