“Listen,” he pleaded, “why not let me take the film to the _Ledger_ office? I’ll have the picture developed and printed before they even know I’ve taken one at headquarters. I’ll run off some extra prints and you can send a man to pick them up. That way, we both win.”
“Maybe I shouldn’t do it,” he said, “but I will. You run along and I’ll have a man over there in thirty minutes.”
No taxi cab was in sight as Flash reached the street. He ran three blocks and finally hailed one.
“Drop me off at the rear entrance of the _Ledger_,” he ordered the driver.
He leaped out as the cab presently stopped. Tossing a handful of change into the driver’s hand, he ran into the building. In the doorway he collided full tilt with Old Herm.
“Big story!” Flash returned as he pressed the elevator button. “I have a corking picture! If only it turns out—and I think it will! Say, has that fellow gone to sleep?”
Unwilling to wait for the cage to descend, he took the stairs two at a time.
Pausing in the news room only long enough to tell the night editor what he had, Flash went on down the corridor to the photography department. He knew he had stirred up plenty of excitement behind him. The arson story was important and ought to be given a prominent play on page one. If the police should capture the two missing men, especially the mysterious ‘H. J.’ who seemed to be the brains of the ring, it would mean the biggest picture break since he had started work on the _Ledger_!
“I hope the film is okay,” he thought uneasily. “A lot depends on it.”
Into Flash’s mind came a dread which he could not have expressed in words. It was exactly as if he had received an intuitive warning. He had lost several big pictures, seemingly through no fault of his own. Something might happen this time.
“I’ll not take any chances,” he told himself. “Until my picture is out of the darkroom and actually in the hands of the editor, I’ll stay with it! There will be no slip-up.”
The photographic department was dark and deserted. Flash did not bother to turn on the lights. Entering the darkroom, he closed the door.
Unwilling to take any chance by using old developer or hypo, he mixed fresh chemicals before switching on the green light and removing his precious film from the holder.