“No; the bedbugs—”
“The commandant has been called up higher.”
“Is—is it an exchange?”
The chairman put that hope out with prompt kindness. “No, no, Captain! I wish it were. That would be the next best thing to news of a big victory, wouldn’t it! But, see, they approach! Way for the noble editors! Way for The Pen that has—ahem!—swallowed the sword!”
The Junior Editor, having the biggest voice and being used to commanding Partisan Rangers, was the chosen reader. He stood forward. “Gentlemen, let me have your attention!—Can’t that lamp be turned up?—Thank you, Colonel!
THE PEN
Light (mental) and Liberty (To the Dead Line)
Vol. I. No. 20.
Prison X. June —, 1863
IMPORTANT NEWS