As they walked back to the Gazette building, where Peter had still various details to attend to, he gave a terse epitome of his afternoon's experiences. At the news that he, too, had sought to buy the paper which was so determinedly on their trail, Peter chuckled and started to speak; but when he learned in the next sentence that Hammerton had their secret at his mercy, his face grew suddenly grave.
"The rub is," he summed up meditatively, "he may take his walking-papers rather than let go of such a scoop as that. Of course, he knows that the New York papers would trample each other to death trying to snatch it away from him. However, we can fix it somehow. We've got to—that's all."
"He'll listen to reason, I dare say," said Varney briefly. "What put it into your head to try to buy the paper, Peter?"
They sat in the business manager's little office at the rear of the long counting-room downstairs, where Peter had thoughtfully paused and snapped on all the lights. At this question an annoyed look settled instantly on the new owner's open countenance.
"No brains of mine," he said shortly. "It's a queer thing."
He paused to light his battered pipe, which he produced ready-filled from his pocket, and then said abruptly:
"Remember that old sneak named Higginson I mentioned to you yesterday? Well, I bagged the idea from him. When I hit town this afternoon the first thing I heard was that Higginson was going to buy the Gazette—had bought it, some said."
"Higginson!" Varney stared. "What the mischief did he want with the Gazette?"
"Echo answers. No good to us, you can bet," said Peter grimly. "Gave it out, I believe, that he was acting for a syndicate of New Yorkers who expected flush times with the change of administration, and were rushing to get in on the ground floor. You can believe that if you want to. To me it sounds too fishy to do even a beginner credit. You could wake me up in the middle of the night and I could put over a better one than that. However," he continued, frowning, "to get back to my story. When I heard what Higginson was up to, it naturally flashed into my mind that it would be a mighty convenient thing if I owned the Gazette myself, instead of him. I raced off to Smith on the chance, shot an offer at him from the door and to my surprise he accepted it—right off the bat, cool as though the deal were for half a dozen copies of yesterday's issue—"
"You got in ahead of Higginson, then?"