He was imperturbable, unmoved, working like a machine himself. Everything was grist to his mill. Whether it was a world catastrophe engulfing thousands, or the nomination of presidential candidates in a republic, Hurd sat there coolly taking it off on his machine, a little more of a mechanism than his own typewriter.

But when Barnes went in, he found Hurd visibly excited.

“Barnes, this is the biggest thing that ever came off the wire. And there’s just pages of it. New York has gone wild. In all my experience, I never have taken anything like this. The New York papers are just swamped with it.”

“Hurd,” said Barnes, his eyes glistening with excitement and pride in his Master, “you were present in the mob last Wednesday. What was your impression of the way the crowd quieted down?”

Hurd turned squarely about and faced Barnes. “My impression? Barnes, let me tell you, I’m not an impressionable fellow, as you know. Who could be, with all this human volcano spouting through him every day? But when he—yes, I have to believe it is really Jesus—spoke those three words the other day, I seemed to feel a powerful hand settle right on me, and I just calmed down like a little child. I reckon I was one of the noisiest and most roughshod there. Fellows like me are that way, once we get going. I tell you, that was no mere man’s work. No man living could have quelled that mob as he did.”

Then, going back to his New York news, he continued, “Some astounding things are going to occur in New York. It does not take a prophet to say it. See here! ‘Jesus has the unquestioning endorsement of all the ministers and church leaders. He has already spoken out in his first public utterance against the cowardice and selfishness of those who own and control the press of New York because they refuse to help civilization in its great battle against alcohol. The churches that are doing such great work without the aid of other forces, are praised by him and the ministers encouraged.’

“And look here! ‘At the close of his first public day in New York, every minute filled with sensational events, he went home with one of the poor families on the East Side, but the papers cannot locate him.’

“Won’t that make the old man mad! I can’t get over the stupendous way in which Jesus refused to be exploited by the press. The quiet, calm, carefree way in which he went his way while he was here, indifferent to the impertinence of those New York, Washington, and Chicago reporters, was the most astounding thing I ever witnessed.