, knowing more than he knew, had yet accepted his ideals so
eagerly and stood to them so loyally; to the spirit that had flashed to
meet his own at that first "Talk-It-Over" breakfast, and had never since
flagged; to Ellis, the harsh, dogged, uncouth evangel, preaching his
strange mission of honor; to Wayne, patient, silent, laborious,
dependable; to young Denton, a "gentleman unafraid," facing the threats
of E.M. Pierce; even to portly Shearson, struggling against such dismal
odds for _his_ poor little principle of journalism--to make the paper
pay. How could he, their leader, recant his doctrine before these men?

Yet--and the qualifying thought dashed cold upon his enthusiasm--what
did the alternative imply for them? The almost certain loss of their
places. To be thrown into the street, a whole officeful of them, seeking
jobs which didn't exist, on the collapse of the "Clarion." Could he do
that to them? Did he not, at least, owe them a living? Some had come to
the "Clarion" from other papers, even from other cities, attracted by
its enterprise, by its "ginger," by the rumor of a fresh and higher
standard in journalism. What of them? For himself he had only
reputation, ethical standard, the intangible matter of existence to
consider. For them it might be hunger and want. Here, indeed, was a
conflicting ideal.

His mind reverted to the things he had been able to get done, in the few
months of his editorial tenure; the success of some of his campaigns,
the educational effect of them even where they had failed of their
definite object, as had the fight for the Consumers' League. One article
had put the chief gambler of the city on the defensive to an extent
which seriously crippled his business. Another had killed forever the
vilest den in town, a saloon back-room where vicious women gathered in
young boys and taught them to snuff cocaine, and had led to an
anti-cocaine ordinance, which the saloon element, who instinctively
resented any species of "reform" as a threat against business, opposed.
Whereupon, Hal, in an editorial on the prohibition movement, had tartly
pointed out that where the saloons were openly vaunting themselves
disdainful of public decency, the public was in immediate process of
wiping out the saloons. Which citation of fact caused a cold chill to
permeate the spines of the liquor interests, and led the large, sleek
leader of that clan to make a surpassingly polite and friendly call upon
Hal, who, r