CHAPTER IV
What followed the First Number
The manager of the Moston Fairtype Press made no bones whatever about undertaking the publication of The Rooke's House Rag. Competition was healthy, he said, and he believed there was plenty of room for a second magazine in a big school like Foxenby, "whose pupils," he declared, "were drawn almost exclusively from the noblest and wealthiest classes."
Also, he continued, he welcomed the chance of showing what his firm could do in trade rivalry with Greatorex & Co., who printed and published The Foxonian for "Mr. Harwood". A rough estimate of the possible cost? Certainly, if the young gentlemen wished it, but it would be rather a waste of time, as, from the standpoint of one who had the interests of Foxenby at heart, he was prepared to cut the price as low as it was possible to do it without actually losing money on the job.
Deposit? He wasn't at all concerned about that. He could take it that Mr. Forge held himself personally responsible for the cost of production? That would do, then; the word of honour of the Captain of Foxenby was good enough for him, any day.
"Send your 'copy' along in due course, gentlemen, and it shall have my personal attention from the moment it enters our doors," he declared. "I can't say fairer than that, can I?"
The two boys, who had quite anticipated some hard bargaining, were almost overwhelmed by this ready support of their optimistic plans. Their amazement was so obviously reflected in their faces that the manager laughed.
"Don't be alarmed, Mr. Forge—keep smilin', Mr. Cayton," he said. "I'm not givin' anythin' away! Though nominally manager of this place, I am, in the main, its proprietor, and I shall not lose in chargin' you on the very lowest scale. There is somethin' in advertisement, you know."
"DON'T BE ALARMED, MR. FORGE"