The boy strode toward him. "You're just the man I want to see," he began. The scribe pretended not to notice the look of anger in his face. Seizing his hand and holding it tightly, he said: "And you're just the person I want to see. There are one or two little mistakes in that interview of ours, and I was looking for you to find out whether the fault lies with you or me. But the article shows up well, doesn't it?" "I----" "Don't say another word." "But----" "I know exactly what you are going to say, but it will be all right next time. It was the fault of the compositor that your name was spelled wrong." "I wasn't----" "I was going to ask you whether it was three men or only two that you knocked out at that scrap referred to in the second column; I'm afraid I got that wrong. But never mind, I gave you the benefit of the doubt, anyhow. He! he! he!" "No such incident ever occurred, and I----" "Tut! tut!" interrupted the reporter, with a shocked look. "What made you tell me the yarn, then?" "I----" "Never mind, we'll have to let it go now; and, after all, it doesn't make much difference. But you ought to be more particular in talking to reporters in the future, my dear young friend." "If I----" "Oh, that's all right---- No thanks. Hello! there goes a man I've got to see right now. S'long!" And the scribe rushed out, leaving Al staring helplessly after him. "Isn't he a dandy?" said the hotel clerk, admiringly. "You'll never catch him. The traditional Frenchman's flea was a graven image compared with that fellow. In your line of business you can profit by the lesson he has just given you. He is an artist in 'bluffing.'" Before Al could reply Mr. Wattles entered the office and approached him with outstretched hand. CHAPTER XVII. "I WANT YOU." "I thought I should find you here," the manager said. "I want to offer you my congratulations before I say another word." "Your congratulations upon what, Mr. Wattles?" asked Al. "Why, upon the way you have worked things here, of course. I heard about it before I left Boomville this morning. That interview is out of sight." "I wish it was," groaned Al. "Eh?" The boy expressed his opinion of the interview in very emphatic terms. "Well," said Mr. Wattles, when he had finished, "you're 'way off in your ideas on that point. Why, the interview is great. I supposed you had taken the reporter out and got him full." "The interview didn't cost me a cent." "That's so much the better. I'm mighty glad it appeared, and you ought to be, too. It'll help biz; and how do you know but that through it you may find your sister?" "That's not possible," said Al. "Why, the facts are all distorted. My father never had any palatial country seat in Tarrytown; there was never any talk of a rejected suitor of my mother's; there----"