'How long?'
'As long as I am needed,' replied the war-correspondent very deliberately. There was no ring of doubt or hesitation in his voice.
'You are an ideal special,' said the other.
'It is best to be consistent even in trifles,' observed Trist, and the editor made no reply. Presently he continued, as if speaking his own thoughts aloud:
'I don't like the look of things in the East. Russia is seething; Turkey is ready, and ... and hell is brewing.'
'Let it brew!' said the philosophic Trist.
'While you stand on the edge of the vat and watch things through the smoke.'
'Exactly.'
'Then, Trist, mind you do not fall in. No fighting, my boy. You must keep in the background this time.'
'If,' replied the other, 'I kept in the background, you would be the very first man to recall me.'