he's going out to start saloons with
chattel mortgages on the fixtures. It's a big thing by itself. But then
besides that he's got orders to apply for street-railroad franchises
wherever he can get them, and he is going to start agencies to sell
typewriters and bicycles and some patent medicines, and I don't know
what else. You see he wanted to represent the Consolidated Press as a
sort of business agent, and _The Daily Lyre_ belongs to the
Consolidated, and that's the way I came across him. The fact is he
represents pretty much all the capital in the country. It's a big
combination. I'll boom him and you, and you'll help us, and then we can
get in on the ground floor with him in anything we like. It's a good
outlook, isn't it, hey? Have you got your commission yet?"

"No," said Sam, "not yet. My uncle wants me to come and spend a few
days with him at Slowburgh to make my acquaintance, and the commission
will go there. I'm to be in the 200th Volunteer Infantry. I don't quite
understand all your plans, but I hope I'll get a chance at real
fighting for our country, and I should like to be a great soldier. You
know that, Cleary."

"Yes, old man, I know it, and you will be, if courage and newspapers
can do it. I'm sorry you didn't get a colonelcy, but captain isn't
bad, and we'll skip you up to general in no time. You've always wanted
to be a hero, haven't you? Well, the first chance I get I'll nickname
you 'Hero' Jinks, and it'll stick, I'll answer for it!"

"Oh! thank you," said Sam.

"Now, good-by. I'll come in for you to-morrow and take you in to see
our war editor. He's a daisy. So long."

When on the morrow Sam was ushered into the den of the war editor, he
was surprised to see what a shabby room it was. The great man was
sitting at a desk which was almost hidden under piles of papers,
letters, telegrams, and memoranda. The chairs in the room were equally
encumbered, and he had to empty the contents of two of them on the
floor before Sam and Cleary could sit down.

"Ah, Captain Jinks, glad to see you!" he said.

Sam beamed with delight. It was the first time that he had heard his
new title--a title, in fact, to which he had as yet no right.

"I suppose Mr. Cleary has explained to you," the editor continued, "what
our designs are. Editing isn't what it used to be. It has become a very
complicated business. In old times we took the news as it came along,
and that was all t