of his accustomed stimulants, to accept the responsibility of what he has
written, we bind ourselves to pay his expenses to any part of France or
Belgium, where he will meet us, and we shall also bind ourselves to give
him what his life little entitles him to, a Christian burial afterwards.

'"No SURRENDER."'

'I am just reading the answer,' said Joe. 'It is very brief: here it is:--

"'If 'No Surrender'--who has been a newsvender in your establishment since
you yourself rose from that employ to the editor's chair--will call at this
office any morning after distributing his eight copies of your daily issue,
we promise to give him such a kicking as he has never experienced during
his literary career. TERRY O'TOOLE.'"

'And these are the amenities of journalism,' cried Kearney.

'For the matter of that, you might exclaim at the quack doctor of a fair,
and ask, Is this the dignity of medicine?' said Joe. 'There's a head and a
tail to every walk in life: even the law has a Chief-Justice at one end and
a Jack Ketch at the other.'

'Well, I sincerely wish that those blackguards would first kick and then
shoot each other.'

'They'll do nothing of the kind! It's just as likely that they wrote the
whole correspondence at the same table and with the same jug of punch
between them.'

'If so, I don't envy you your career or your comrades.'