“Your paper is going to be left in the lurch, anyhow.”
“Perhaps. But it won’t be sold by me. I’ll burn my copy before I will let you have a glimpse of it. That don’t need to interfere with your making me an offer of a better position when we get back to New York; but while my paper depends on me, I won’t go back on it.”
“Just as you please, Jimmy. Perhaps I would do the same myself. I always was weak where the interests of the Argus were concerned. You haven’t any blank paper you could lend me, Jimmy?”
“I have, but I won’t lend it.”
Yates took out his pencil, and pulled down his cuff.
“Now, Mac,” he said, “tell me all you saw of this fight.”
The blacksmith talked, and Yates listened, putting now and then a mark on his cuff. Sandy spoke occasionally, but it was mostly to tell of sledge-hammer feats or to corroborate something the boss said. One after another Yates interviewed the prisoners, and gathered together all the materials for that excellent full-page account “by an eyewitness” that afterward appeared in the columns of the Argus. He had a wonderful memory, and simply jotted down figures with which he did not care to burden his mind. Hawkins laughed derisively now and then at the facts they were giving Yates, but the Argus man said nothing, merely setting down in shorthand some notes of the information Hawkins sneered at, which Yates considered was more than likely accurate and important. When he had got all he wanted, he rose.
“Shall I send you help, Mac?” he asked.
“No,” said the smith; “I think I’ll take these fellows to the shop, and hold them there till called for. You can’t vouch for Hawkins, then, Mr. Yates?”
“Good Heavens, no! I look on him as the most dangerous of the lot. These half-educated criminals, who have no conscientious scruples, always seem to me a greater menace to society than their more ignorant co-conspirators. Well, good-by, Jimmy. I think you’ll enjoy life down at Mac’s shop. It’s the best place I’ve struck since I’ve been in the district. Give my love to all the boys, when they come to gaze at you. I’ll make careful inquiries into your opinions, and as soon as I am convinced that you can be set free with safety to the community I’ll drop in on you and do all I can. Meanwhile, so long.”