"Why ain't there?" asked Jap sharply.
"Why, all the folks are talking of pulling up stakes and moving to Barton."
"Well, if that is the kind of backbone they have been backing this town with," snapped the youth, his red hair standing erect, "you help them move, and the Herald will show them up for quitters—and fill the town with real men."
And being full of wrath, he proceeded to incorporate this thought in the half column he was setting up. The paper was eagerly snapped up by the crowd.
"Who wrote this?" fairly howled Tom Granger. "I want to hold his grimy hand and help him shout for a bigger and better town."
Ellis shoved Jap forward.
"Here is the fire-eater," he announced. Jap flushed through the dirt on his face.
"It's true," he said, half shyly. "There's no good in a quitter. The best thing is to smoke them out and get live men to take their places."
"Bravely said," shouted Granger. "The bank will rebuild with brick. Who else builds on Main street?"
Before the end of the following week the town was humming with industry. Every hack brought its contingent of insurance adjusters, and merchants elbowed contractors in the little telegraph office, in endeavors to get supplies. On Thursday a curious crowd stood watching Ellis and the boys run the blistered but still faithful Washington press in the boiling sun.