“Sure! Those pictures’d make a reformer laugh. I picked up the book in German on an Ann Street sidewalk stand, caught the Big Idea right then and there; to Americanize the stuff and—”
“For ‘Americanize,’ read ‘steal,’” commented Edmonds.
“There ain’t no thin’ crooked in this,” protested the other with sincerity. “The stuff ain’t copyrighted here. I looked that up particularly.”
“Quite true, I believe,” confirmed Severance. “It’s an open field.”
“I got ten series mapped out to start. Call ’em ‘The Trouble-hunter Twins, Ruff and Reddy.’ If they catch on, the artist and me can keep ’em goin’ forever. And they’ll catch.”
“I believe they will,” said Severance.
“Smeared across the top of a page it’ll make a business man laugh as hard as a kid. I know business men. I was one, myself. Sold bar fixtures on the road for four years. And my best selling method was the laughs I got out of ’em. Used to take a bit of chalk and do sketches on the table-tops. So I know what makes ’em laugh. Belly-laughs. You make a business man laugh that way, and you get his business. It ain’t circulation alone; it’s advertising that the stuff will bring in. Eh?”
“What do you think, Mr. Banneker?” asked Severance.
“It’s worth trying,” decided Banneker after thought. “You don’t think so, do you, Pop?”
“Oh, go ahead!” returned Edmonds, spewing forth a mouthful of smoke as if to expel a bad taste. “What’s larceny among friends?”