And
now some of the men are waiting outside to come in and talk this
matter over, so we'll have them in now."
And Archie found himself in the midst of an editorial conference,
during which many things were discussed. The meeting lasted more than
two hours, and finally it was decided that Archie should travel from
New York to San Francisco, and go from there to Manila on the army
transport which was to sail on the twenty-fifth of the month. This
meant that he would have to leave the city in two days' time, and
Archie announced himself as quite willing to do this, as he had few
preparations to make. The editors gave him many instructions about how
he was to address his correspondence, and how he should proceed in the
event of finding it necessary to send despatches by cable. And at the
end of the conference he felt that he knew all that he would need to
know, so that he could start off without fear of not being able to
fulfil his mission. As far as Archie could understand it, his chief
instructions as to duty were to the effect that he must have as many
experiences as possible of as many different kinds, and that he must
write about them in a perfectly natural way, just as if he were
writing a letter to the folks at home. And he thought, of course, that
this would be very easy to do.
Mr. Van Bunting gave him a letter of credit for six hundred dollars,
which amount, he said, would probably be sufficient to pay his
expenses while he was in the Philippines, and he also gave him a
cheque for three hundred dollars, which was intended to pay the
expense of getting to Manila.
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