The Savannah morning news., 1903-03-15
(Continued from Last Sundays News.
CHAPTER XIII.
JAMES FISBEE.

JAMES FISBEE.
On Monday morning three men sat
an council in the Herald" office; that
Is, if staring out of dlngy windows in
a demented silence may be called sit
ting in council; that was what Mr..
Fisbee and Parker and Ross Schofield
were doing. By almost desperate ex
ertions these three and Bud Tip
worthy had managed to place before
the public the issues of the paper for
the previous week, unaided by their
chief. or, rather aided by long ac-
counts of his condition and the man
ner of his mishap; and, in truth, three
copies were at that moment in the
possession of DIR. Gay, accompanied
by a note from Parker, warning the
surgeon to exhibit them to his pa
tient only as a last resort, as the fore
man feared a perusal of them might
cause a relapse.
BY indiscriminate turns, acting as
editors; reporters and typesetters -
and particularly space writers-the
three men had worried out three is
sues, and part of the fourth Ito APP
pear the next morning. was set up;
but they had come to the end of their
string, and there were various horrid
gaps yet to fill in spite of too gen
erous spreading of advertisements. Bud
Tipworthy had been sent out to be-
siege Miss Tibbs, all of whose recent
buds of rhyme had been hot-housed
into inky blossom during the week.
and after a long absence the youth re-
turned with a somewhat abrupt qua
train. entitled, THE Parisians of Old,
which she had produced while he wait
ed-only four lines, according to the
measure they meted, which was not
Tegardful of art-less than drop in
the bucket, or, to preserve the figure.
n single posy where they needed
bouquet Bud went down the rickety
outside stairs, and sat on the lowest
step. whistling wait Till the Clouds
Roll BY, Jenny" Ross Schofield de-
seconded to set up the quatrain, and
Fisbee and Parker were left to silence
and troubled meditation.
They were seated on opposite sides
of Harkless' desk. Sheets of blank
scratch paper lay before them, and
they relaxed not their knit brows. Now
and then, one of them. after gazing
Vacantly about the room for ten or fif-
teen minutes, would attack the sheet
before him with fiercest energy; then
the energy would taper off, and the
paragraph halt, the writer peruse it
obviously, then angrily tear off the
sheet and hurl it to the floor. All
around they lay these snowballs of de-
feated journalism.
Mr.. Parker was long, loose, gaunt
gentleman, with a peremptOry fore
head and a capable jaw, but on the
present occasion his capability was
baffied and swamped in the attempt
to steer the craft of his talent up an
unaccustomed channel without a pilot.
II don't see as it's any USE Fisbee,"
he said, morosely, after a series of eff
forts that Uttered the floor in every
direction. I'm a born compositor, and
/ can't shift my trade. l stood the
pace fairly for a week, but I'll have
to give up; I'm run plumb dry. l
only hope they won't show him our
Saturday with your three columns of
"A Word on the Lotus Motive re-
printed from February. l begin to
sympathize with the boss, because 1
known what he felt when l ballyrag-
ged him for copy. Yes. sir; l know
how it is to be an editor in a dead
town now"
I'VE must remember, too" said his
companion, thoughtfully, there is the
Thursday issue of this week to be pre-
pared. almost at once"
DON'T Please don't mention that,
Fisbee!" Parker tilted far back in his
chair with his feet anchored under the
desk, preserving a precarious balance.
81 amt as grateful for my promotion
to joint Editor-in-C Chief as / might be.
I'm middling poor man for the hour
] guess" he remarked, painfully fol-
lowing the peregrinations of a fly on
his companions sleeve.
Mr.. Fisbee twisted up another sheet,
and employed his eyes in following
the course of a crack in the plaster, a
slender black aperture which stagger-
ed across the dusty ceiling and down
the dustier wall to disappear behind a
still dustier map of Carlow county.
That's the troubled" exclaimed Par
ker observing the others preoccupa-
ton. soon as you get to writing a
line or two that seems kind of prom
Using, you begin to take a morbid in
terest in that blamed crack It's bust
ed up enough copy for me, the last
eight days, to have filled her up TWEEN
ty times over. l don't know as I ever
care to see that crack again. / turned
my back on it, but there wasn't any
use in that because If a fly lights on
you l watch him like brother, and
if there amt any fly I've caught
mania for tappy my teeth with pen
Gil, that is just as good"
To these two gentlemen, thus olsen
gagged, re-entered (after much long
er absence than Miss Selinas quatrain
5ustified) Mr.. Ross Schofield a healthy
glow of exertion lending pleasant color
to his earnest visage, and an almost
visible laurel of success browning his
brows. In addition to this imaginary
ornament, he was horned with pencils