Page:The council of seven.djvu/79

 "Gage!" The curious whisper broke the silence at last. "We must go into this. We must go into this fully."

The cock of the editor's head implied rather than expressed a mild dissent. He did not venture upon anything more explicit. It was no use opposing Saul Hartz. One might as well oppose Niagara. Amenable to argument he might be up to a point, but he was a man of volcanic will who owed almost everything to an unrivaled intuition. He had a first-rate mind for affairs, but it was not by taking the advice of others that he had won a unique place in the world.

"Big issues here!" The formidable jowl had unfurled itself from a capacious collar, the brooding eyes had disclosed their fires.

"Yes, I grant that." A slight tremor in Mr. Gage's voice told more than his words. "But it seems to me, if I may be allowed to say so"

"Go on!" The words were impatient. "You know that in this room you can say anything."

"Well, sir, I would like to say this: It seems to me that you of all men should keep off the grass."

Mr. Gage did not underrate his own prescience, and he knew that Saul Hartz did not underrate it either. But as the editor of the Planet uttered these significant words, he had the look of a man who anticipates an explosion. In this, he was not disappointed. But the explosion, when it came, was less devastating than he had feared.