Page:Lynch Williams--The stolen story and other newspaper stories.djvu/171

 "Hopper says most of them think that we had an exclusive interview some time to-day and sent Carrington up for the general interview as a blind. It was just like the kid to let us in for this."

"What does the kid say?"

"Still sticks to it, Hopper says, and keeps showing him his ragged-edge notes."

"Say, come here, Van," said Reed.

A boy had just come in bearing copies of an extra edition of The Evening Earth. In the first column, corresponding to the position of Carrington's beat, was a head-line made up of the single word "CANARD," and the gist of the story beneath it was that The Star was a liar, and that The Earth could prove it. Everyone gathered around the several copies.

Van Cise whistled. "They must have hustled this through in a hurry," he said.

"Say, there's an editorial inside," the telegraph editor remarked.

"Shut up!" said Van Cise. Then to Reed, "Never mind looking at that now, please, old man."

Reed, who had turned his back to them,