"What I did was
to save my own precious skin."
"The effect was the same. After this the rats will suspect every man of
being a Banneker in disguise, and we shall have no more trouble."
"You see!" remarked Cressey triumphantly as Masters went away. "I told
you you'd arrived."
"Do you count a word of ordinary courtesy as so much?" inquired
Banneker, surprised and amused.
"From Junior? I certainly do. No Masters ever does anything without
having figured out its exact meaning in advance."
"And what does this mean?" asked the other, still unimpressed.
"For one thing, that the Masters influence will be back of you, if the
police try to put anything over. For another, that you've got the
broadest door to society open to you, if Junior follows up his hint
about the yacht."
"I haven't the time," returned Banneker with honest indifference. He
sipped his coffee thoughtfully. "Cressey," he said, "if I had a
newspaper of my own in New York, do you know what I'd do with it?"
"Make money."
"I hope so. But whether I did or not, I'd set out to puncture that
bubble of the Masters power and supremacy. It isn't right for any man to
have that power just through money. It isn't American."
"The old man would smash your paper in six months.
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