Scoop-Evelyn-Waugh [58]
� royals, the elegant antennae of the ibis, the vast armoury of moose and buffalo. Soon the paper before him was covered like the hall of a hunter with freakish heads. None looked right. He brooded over them and found no satisfaction. It was thus that Mr. Salter found him. Mr. Salter had not wanted to come and see Lord Copper. He had nothing particular to say. He had not been summoned. But he had the right of entry to his owner's presence, and it was only thus, he believed, by unremitting, wholly uncongenial self-assertion, that he could ever hope for a change of job. "I wanted to consult you about Bucharest," he said. "Ah." "There's a long story from Jepson about a pogrom. Have we any policy about Bucharest?" Lord Copper roused himself from his abstraction. "Someone on this paper must know about cows," he said petulantly. "Cows, Lord Copper?" "Don't we keep a man to write about the country?" "Oh. That was Boot, Lord Copper." "Well, have him come and see me." "We sent him to Africa." "Well, have him come back. What's he doing there? Who sent him?" "He is on his way back now. It was Boot who brought off the great story in Ishmaelia. When we scooped Hitchcock," he added, for Lord Copper was frowning in a menacing way. Slowly the noble face lightened. "Ah, yes, smart fellow, Boot. He was the right man for that job." "It was you who discovered him, Lord Copper." "Of course, naturally...had my eye on him for some time. Glad he made good. There's always a chance for real talent on the Beast, eh, Salter?" "Definitely, Lord Copper." "Preparations going ahead for Boot's reception?" "Up to a point." "Let me see, what was it we decided to do for him?" "I don't think, Lord Copper, that the question was ever actually raised." "Nonsense. It is a matter I have particularly at heart. Boot has done admirably. He is an example to everyone on the staff � everyone. I wish to show my appreciation in a marked manner. When do you say he gets back?" "At the end of next week." "I will thank him personally....You never had any faith in that boy, Salter." "Well..." "I remember it quite distinctly. You wished to have him recalled. But I knew he had the makings of a journalist in him. Was I right?" "Oh, definitely. Lord Copper." "Well, then, let us have no more of these petty jealousies. The office is riddled with them. I shall make it my concern to see that Boot is substantially rewarded. What, I wonder, would meet the case..." Lord Copper paused, undecided. His eye fell on the page of drawings and he covered it with his blotting paper. "Suppose," he said at length, "we gave him another good foreign assignment. There is this all-women expedition to the South Pole � bound to be a story in that. Do you think that would meet the case?" "Up to a point, Lord Copper." "Not too lavish?" "Definitely not." "I imagine that the expenses of an expedition of that kind will be heavy. Have to charter his own ship � I understand they will have no man on board." He paused, dissatisfied. "The trouble is that it is the kind of story that may not break for two years and then we shall have to put Boot's name before the public all over again. We ought to do something now, while the news is still hot. I gave that illiterate fellow Hitchcock a knighthood for less." For the first time since the question of the cow had risen to perplex him, Lord Copper smiled. "We certainly wiped Hitchcock's eye in Ishmaelia." He paused, and his smile broadened as he recalled the triumph of ten days ago when the Brute had had to remake their front page at seven in the morning and fill a special late edition with a palpable fake. "I don't want to cheapen official honours among the staff," he said, "but I have a very good mind to give a knighthood to Boot. How does that strike you, Salter?" "You don't think, Lord Copper, that he is rather an inexperienced man...?" "No, I don't. And I deplore this grudging attitude in you, Salter. You should welcome the success of your subordinates. A knighthood is very suitable recognition. It will not cost us a penny. As I say, honours of this kind must be distributed with discretion but, properly used, they give a proper air of authority to the paper." "It will mean an increase of salary." "He shall have it. And he shall have a banquet. Send my Social Secretary to me. I will make the arrangements at once."