“I have an idea, Phoebe, if you will believe such a thing possible,” said Dan. “Could you let me borrow some of the cartoons you and Molly drew for your show Saturday?”
“Well, your art gallery, then. I mean the ones about school, that good one of the principal, and the funny one Molly called ‘What May Happen Soon’.”
“Mercy, which one was that? I’ve forgotten.”
“The one where Miss James is driving the _ponies_ out of the Cicero class and they’re kicking up their heels, and some of the boys, the riders, I suppose, are flat on the floor.”
“Yes, Dan, and that is a good one where Billy is pulling his father’s Ford out of the mud-hole where he got stuck, and the one where the bob-sled is and Fran looking at her ruined hat.” Raleigh was adding this.
“I see,” said Phoebe. “You just want to borrow them?”
“That is all,--now. How soon could we find out whether the girls will let us have them or not?”
“Oh, pretty soon. I’ll call up Jean as soon as I get home. Suppose you call me up about supper time. I’ll know by then. Of course, you will be careful of our masterpieces?”
“I’ll treat them like glass, honest. I just want to show them to somebody now.”
“All right. I’m willing, if Molly is and if Jean has no objection.”
As no one objected to lending pictures to the boys, the following day saw Dan and “Rall” conferring with Jimmy Standish, and later with no less a person than the editor himself, in the editorial sanctum, a very ordinary but busy office.
“Why, yes,” said Mr. Standish, “we could print it for you at a very moderate price, but who will pay for the job? We are not running on exactly a missionary basis.”
“No, sir. We will pay for it out of our own pockets, unless it is more than we can handle, and soon the subscribers will pay for it.”
“You are more sure of your subscribers than we are,” said the editor, with a smile. “Let’s see the pictures.”
Dan unwrapped Molly’s and Phoebe’s drawings.
“Clever stuff,” said the editor, with another smile. “Yes, for a school paper such outlines will do very well. Send the girls in to see me some time. I can give them a hint or two. My advice is to make your paper snappy and short. Begin with two rather small pages or even one sheet. If you want to enlarge it you can. Get your stuff together and hand it to Jimmy to make ready for you. I’m making an editor out of Jimmy as soon as he learns a few more things----”