Greenough,
becoming joss-like again. "I hardly think--" But what it was that he
hardly thought, the subject of his animadversions did not then or
subsequently ascertain, for he was dismissed in the middle of the
sentence with a slow, complacent nod.
Loss of his place, had it promptly followed, would not have dismayed the
rebel. It did not follow. Nothing followed. Nothing, that is, out of the
ordinary run. Mr. Gordon said no word. Mr. Greenough made no reference
to the resignation. Tommy Burt, to whom Banneker had confided his
action, was of opinion that the city desk was merely waiting "to hand
you something so raw that you'll have to buck it; something that not
even Joe Bullen would take." Joe Bullen, an undertaker's assistant who
had drifted into journalism through being a tipster, was The Ledger's
"keyhole reporter" (unofficial).
"The joss is just tricky enough for that," said Tommy. "He'll want to
put you in the wrong with Gordon. You're a pet of the boss's."
"Don't blame Greenough," said Banneker. "If you were on the desk you
wouldn't want reporters that wouldn't take orders."
Van Cleve, oldest in standing of any of the staff, approached Banneker
with a grave face and solemn warnings. To leave The Ledger was to depart
forever from the odor of journalistic sanctity.
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