"They are using their porters and janitors to carry boards," said Andrew Barrett, bitterly. "I tell you, H. R., this is a crisis!"
H. R., thinking of Grace, nodded absently and said, "Send for Onthemaker."
Max came on the run. Nearly three days had elapsed without a front-page paragraph for him.
Barrett told him about the crisis. Their idea had been stolen and utilized by unscrupulous merchants who were sandwiching without permission and using scabs.
"I get you," said Max Onthemaker. Then he turned to the chief and told him:
"H. R., you've got to do something to make George G. Goodchild sue you for a million dollars." He had drawn and kept ready for use sixty-three varieties of restraining orders, writs, etc.
"What's that got to do with our--" began Andrew Barrett, impatiently.
"Certainly!" cut in Mr. Onthemaker. "We must fight Capital with its own weapon. The Money Power is great on injunctions. I wish to say that when it comes to injunctions I've got Wall Street gasping for breath and--"
"Yes, but what about the scabs? Can't you stop 'em?" persisted Barrett.
The future of the Barrett Itinerant Advertising Agency was at stake.
Andrew Barrett, who had begun to look hopeful, frowned at his leader's negative, and said, desperately, "Something has got to be done!"
When human beings say "Something" in that tone of voice they mean dynamite by proxy.
"Certainly!" agreed H. R., absently, his mind still on Grace.
Andrew Barrett stifled a groan. He whispered to Max, "It's the girl!"
Max looked alarmed, then hopeful. Grace was almost as much News as H. R. himself.
Andrew Barrett turned to H. R., and said, reproachfully:
"Here we've made sandwiching what it is, and these infernal tightwads--"
"That's the word, Barrett," cut in H. R. "Go to it, my son!"
"Advertise in all the papers, morning and evening."
Young Mr. Barrett stared at him, then he shook his head, tapped it with his knuckles, and confessed: "Solid!"
"_Give me a pencil!_" said H. R. It sounded like "Fix bayonets!"
"Nothing," Mr. Onthemaker permitted himself to observe, judicially, "is so conducive to front-page publicity as intelligent violence. This is not a strike, but a cause. Look at the militants--"
"There is something in that," admitted A. Barrett.