rns, bent himself to
take his revenge from the reporter.

It was in his power to make his subordinate's life unpleasant, and this
he accomplished to the utmost limit of his capability. But he was not
satisfied with this; his purpose in life was to ruin Desmond. He sowed
the seeds of dislike in Ebenezer Brown's mind--an easy thing to
accomplish when one was so careless as Desmond O'Connor.

Sketches he left lying about, and verses of poetry which were like
pointed barbs in the flesh of Ebenezer Brown. But when the old man
turned to Cairns suggesting the dismissal of the reporter, he received
small encouragement from the editor.

"O'Connor is careless; I grant that. He is still a boy, and he acts on
impulses, often mistaken ones. He is very clever with his pencil, and
does not care a hang whom he caricatures. He has even had the cheek to
sketch me. I saw it.

"And me, too," growled Ebenezer.

"I saw that, too. I suppose Gifford exhibited it to you?" said Cairns.

"Never mind how I saw it. It is impudence, insubordination,
ingratitude," replied the old man.

"Hem!" coughed the editor, dubiously.

"Look what his father owed to me."

"And you to O'Connor," suggested Cairns. "I should put the ingratitude
on one side. O'Connor can go if you like, and I shall also retire."

"Oh, nonsense, Cairns! You have a good billet cried Ebenezer.

"No better than I deserve, I assure you. The long and short of it is
that I will not allow the petty jealousy of Gifford to deprive me of an
invaluable assistant. This is an ultimatum."

Ebenezer Brown retired, grumbling to himself, while Cairns sought
Desmond O'Connor.

"You are a hopeless young dog," he said, picking up a sketch. "A
racehorse! I presume you bet?"

"Just a trifle now and again," replied the reporter, carelessly. "I won
a tenner over that horse."

"Knowing the prejudices of your chief, I am surprised at you. Ebenezer
Brown detests racehorses."

"It runs in the blood, sir. My father was worse than I. He would have
owned this paper but for a horse and jockey. The horse would have won
the Melbourne Cup but that it did not fall in with the jockey's plans.
The governor turned to Ebenezer Brown for assistance, and mortgaged 'The
Observer,' The old man should be eternally grateful to racehorses."

"And here am I for ever fighting your battles. Why don't you help me? If
Ebenezer Brown knows that you gamble, he will shoot you out,"
remonstrated Cairns.

"He knew th