Carroll shrugged his shoulders. “Not so that you could notice it. It is true that at first my campaign against the grafters got us a lot of new readers. But the circulation figures soon dwindled. The population of Oldham seemed to lose interest in the fight. Besides, I was discredited at the start.” “Discredited! How?” the Camera Chap demanded in astonishment. The proprietor of the _Bulletin_ smiled grimly. “There’s a rival sheet here--the _Chronicle_. It is the administration organ--which means, of course, that its proprietor is hand and glove with that gang of crooks at the city hall. The _Chronicle_ happened to learn that I was formerly a reporter on the New York _Sentinel_, and that I was discharged from that paper for getting it into a libel suit. That information was pie to those crooks. The _Chronicle_ published it on its front page in red type. It gave all the details of that unfortunate libel suit, insinuated that I had been forced to come to Oldham because no New York newspaper would hire me after my discharge from the _Sentinel_, and warned the public not to pay any attention to my ’base and slanderous attacks upon the virtuous and public-spirited gentlemen who were giving Oldham the best government it had ever enjoyed.’ Of course, this has hurt me a lot. The _Chronicle_ keeps it prominently displayed on its front page every day, and, as I have said, I am pretty much discredited.” “That was a dirty trick,” declared Hawley indignantly. “Who is the proprietor of the _Chronicle_?” “A lean old fox named Gale.” “Gale!” the Camera Chap repeated, with an inflection of astonishment. “That’s a queer coincidence. Doesn’t happen to be any relative of the reporter by the same name on the staff of the New York _Daily News_, does he, Fred?” Carroll grinned. “Yes, Hawley, the proprietor of the Oldham _Chronicle_ is the father of your old enemy, Gale, of the _News_. I can assure you, he’s a chip of the young block, too--several chips, in fact.” The Camera Chap frowned. “I recall now that somebody once told me that Gale’s father was the proprietor of a small paper,” he said. “I guess, Fred, it was the younger Gale who supplied the Oldham _Chronicle_ with the information about that unfortunate libel suit of yours.” “I haven’t the slightest doubt of that,” Carroll answered. “He and I never did get along together when I was on Park Row. In fact, I had occasion to punch his head only a few days before I got fired from the _Sentinel_. I guess he was tickled to death to have a chance to get back at me.” Their conversation was interrupted at this point by a young man whose face wore a depressed, anxious expression as he stepped up to the editorial desk. “Mr. Carroll,” he said gloomily, “I’m sorry to have to tell you that we’re going to be badly scooped in the next issue.” “How so, Parsons?” the acting city editor demanded sharply. “There’s been a big burglary in town,” announced Parsons, who was the _Bulletin’s_ police reporter.