Meanwhile, of course, Sir John Herschel was busy with his telescope at the Cape, all unaware of his expanded fame in the north. Caleb Weeks, of Jamaica, Long Island, the Adam Forepaugh of his day, was setting out for South Africa to get a supply of giraffes for his menagerie, and he had the honour of laying in the great astronomer’s hand a clean copy of the pamphlet. To say that Sir John was amazed at the _Sun’s_ enterprise would be putting it mildly. When he had read the story through, he went to Caleb Weeks and said that he was overcome; that he never could hope to live up to the fame that had been heaped upon him. In New York, meanwhile, Richard Adams Locke had spilled the beans. There was a reporter named Finn, once employed by the _Sun_, but later a scribe for the _Journal of Commerce_. He and Locke were friends. One afternoon Gerard Hallock, who was David Hale’s partner in the proprietorship of the _Journal of Commerce_, called Finn to his office and told him to get extra copies of the _Sun_ containing the moon story, as the _Journal_ had decided, in justice to its readers, that it must reprint it. Perhaps at the _Sun_ office, perhaps in the tap-room of the Washington Hotel, Finn met Locke, and they went socially about to public places. Finn told Locke of the work on which he was engaged, and said that, as the moon story was already being put into type at the _Journal_ office, it was likely that it would be printed on the morrow. “Don’t print it right away,” said Locke. “I wrote it myself.” The next day the _Journal_, instead of being silently grateful for the warning, denounced the alleged discoveries as a hoax. Mr. Bennett, who by this time had the _Herald_ once more in running order, not only cried “Hoax!” but named Locke as the author. Probably Locke was glad that the suspense was over. He is said to have told a friend that he had not intended the story as a hoax, but as satire. “It is quite evident,” he said, as he saw the whole country take the marvellous narrative seriously, “that it is an abortive satire; and I am the best self-hoaxed man in the whole community.” But while the _Sun’s_ rivals denounced the hoax, the _Sun_ was not quick to admit that it had gulled not only its own readers but almost all the scientific world. Barring the casual conversation between Locke and Finn, there was no evidence plain enough to convince the layman that it was a hoax. The _Sun_ fenced lightly and skilfully with all controverters. On September 16, more than two weeks after the conclusion of the story, it printed a long editorial article on the subject of the authenticity of the discoveries, mentioning the wide-spread interest that had been displayed in them: