The San Francisco call., 1908-10-04

ale OF the city room
Old Nails frowned Formally and
respectfully he should be intro
duced as William Naylor. city
editor of the Advertiser, old in
service and somewhat warped in
disposition. BY the newspaper pro-
fession in general and his subordi
mates in particular he was dubbed Old
Na1ls-partly a twist Of his name and
: partly because of developed hardi-
ness OF manner. old Nails had no
= sympathy with a day off" For his
part he never took one and could not
understand why anybody who had de-
voted his energies TO the allurements
Of Journalism could find pleasure in
absence from the routine.
"Call up his house or wherever you
th,nk he is likely to be" he added
gruffiy. Get him on the wire at once
and ask him TO report Immediately.
Tel him the business is urgent and
We need him."
Thirty minutes later Ross Rankin
sauntered coolly into the Office The
star reporter is never excited, never
hurries. and Ross Rankin was. con-
fessedly, the star reporter. Twenty
years before he had enlisted in the
humbIest capacity, and his alertness Of
mind, precision and accuracy Of writ
ing. and. above all, his unusual knowl-
edge OF human nature had developed
3ltm into the most valuable man on the
city staff Other positions had been
:. offered him, but he had invariably
declined them. Reporting is an art.
!: editing an accomplishment" was his
faverite epigram- Why spoil a good
reporter to make commonplace ed
itor?" he asked. and dropped the sub
. sect
-. sorry to interfere with your day
of. Rankin" said Old Nails with a sar-
donic grin. Nothing so delighted him
as to break up a holiday.
Don't mention it," replied the i'm
p6rturbable Rankin. who knew his su-
perior's malicious weakness.
- The fact is that Mrs. Pinckney has
D.. lost her jewels"
- " hat again.
:: she is a little unfortunate in that
respect. I know" said Old Nails. but
II makes good copy for US. If you saw
. the morning papers YOU noticed that
. 1lis time somebody has made of with
: her pocketbook containing 500 in
= bills and valuable sapphire ring. The
detectives have been at work since last
night but have not the slightest clew
= To. the thief Half an hour ago L was
i called up on the telephone by a man
who said that if I would send down
Trustworthy reporter TO the southeast
room of the Empire restaurant he
. would give us tip that might result
in scoop So you see he knows
: something about the newspaper busi-
ness. He is probably a crook and must
be handled automatically. and that is
why ] have intrusted the business to
you You don't need any instructions
and you know how far you can go. It
looks like a big story to me, so go
ahead and work it up for all it's
,. worth"
: Rankin made no reply. The star re
porter never unbends-not even to his
city editor. His secrets, his purposes,
. his methods are his own; for him the
newspaper is concerned only with re-
suits He nodded acceptance of the
mission and implied compliment,
stopped at his desk just long enough TO
put a pad of paper and copy of
morning edition in his pocket and
walked out as leisurely and uncon-
cernedly as he had entered.
The Empire" he soliloquized as he
went along. is not a resort for profss-
sional crooks, so it is likely that my
man is not professional. On the other
hand. 1t is much freqUented by chauf-
feurs, buffers and servants IN general
so it. Is fair inference that ! have got
te deal with somebody in Mrs. Pinck
neys service. But why should he tele-
phone TO a newspaper office? That's the
thing that bothers me-"
Rankin was well acquainted with the
southeast room Of the Empire. He knew
that it was a favorite place OF confer
ence for those persons Of the general
. nature he had in mind. And he kneN
also that this fact was so well estab-
lished that a private meeting at half
mast in the afternoon would excite no
suspicion or comment He entered
through the bar, passed on across the
main dining room and into the south
east room specified. A man WAS sit-
ting at the table. Rankin gave him 4
quick glance 4 thought So" he said
10 aimself
He was a little rlan, with dark hair,
small, restless eyes. a rather prominent
nose smooth lip and cnln and clio iely
cropped side whiskers reaching just
below his ears. He looked up as Ran
kin approached and lis face frightened.
'.Yo8 are Mr. Rankin Of the Adver-
tiser?" he said.
Proud to know that my fame is
:. spreading" replied Rankin.
I saw you in court the day my
, brother. who is a chauffeur, was tried
. for running down the Geary children IN
Manic street and ] think ! also rave
seen YOU at Mrs. Pinckney's. 1 am Fill
. lfins. Mrs. Pinckneys butler"
Fl suspected as much. and you Ger
Safnlv look the part. ] am glad our ac-
.b,,afntauce has been SO ioyOusly re-
r6wed. As a butler you are qualified
:: 10 order the preliminar -es- And he
"a