Howard Roger Garis

“ I have tried to write for you a story of newspaper life and tell how a boy, who started in the lowest position,—that of a copy carrier,—rose to become a reporter. The newspaper covers a wide field, and enters into almost every home, telling of the doings of all the world, including that which takes place right in our midst.
There are many persons in the business, which is an interesting and fascinating one. ”

“ When Larry was coming back from the telegraph office with his second batch of copy, pedaling his wheel along the muddy street, he heard a voice call:
“Hello, kid! What you doing here?”
He looked up to behold his old enemy Peter Manton.
“I’m working for Mr. Newton,” replied Larry, not feeling any too friendly.
“I’m working too,” volunteered Peter, seemingly forgetting that there was an old score between him and Larry. “I’m on the Scorcher. I’ll bet we beat you fellows all hollow. The Scorcher plays up news in red type on the front page. It’s a dandy paper.” ”

“ Working all night is nothing. That’s fun. It’s being up six nights out of seven that makes it hard. But we don’t have to do that. So go back to bed and sleep as well as you can.”
Larry tried to but he found it hard work. He listened to the rain drops and thought of what would happen when the big dam burst. This made him so wide awake that he tried to count the number of drops that fell on a tin roof, thinking the monotony of this might send him to slumber.
Finally, after admiring the calm and peaceful manner in which Mr. Newton dropped off to sleep, Larry found his eyes growing heavy. ”

“ Larry felt his heart beating fast at the thought that perhaps Mr. Newton, all unconscious of danger, might be caught by the men. How he longed for a chance to warn the reporter!
“It’s going to be a ticklish job,” rejoined the tall man.
“Can’t help it,” went on the leader. “We’ll do the best we can. This place is far enough away. You two men will have to stay on guard. Give him all he wants to eat, but if he tries to escape—well, you know what to do.”
“I guess so,” muttered the short man, with an ugly look at Larry. ”

“ Larry was beginning to get frightened. He had yet to see how a seasoned reporter meets a rebuff of this kind.
“I’m very sorry,” began Mr. Newton in a smooth tone. “I’m sure the Leader doesn’t want to annoy anyone. We are just as sorry as you are about this robbery, but we are only doing you a service.”
“How doing us a service?” replied the man. “If you call blazing a lot of untruths about the matter all over, why I suppose it is.”
“Pardon me,” interposed Mr. Newton, “but the Leader is not a yellow journal. It does not publish fakes. It always tries to get at the truth. ”

“ The boy found his mother in the bedroom, where she had sought a quiet place to rest.
“Have you really made up your mind to go to New York, mother?” Larry asked.
“I think it is the best thing to do,” was the answer. “We can stay with your aunt Ellen until I can find some work to do.”
“Are you going to work, mother? I hate to think of it. I’ll work for you.”
“I know you will do what you can,” replied Mrs. Dexter, “but I’m afraid boys do not earn much in big cities, so we will need all we both can get. It is going to be a hard struggle.” ”

“ Larry’s suspicions had been dispelled as soon as he entered the place, a few days previous, but he and Mr. Newton had decided to say nothing of this, as they wished to play a trick on the officers who had gone out of their way once to treat the reporter in rather a shabby fashion.
“This will make a good story,” remarked Mr. Newton so the detectives would hear.
“You’re not going to print this, are you?” asked the officers, looking more foolish than ever.
“Of course,” replied the reporter. “It isn’t often that you fellows make mistakes, but when you do it’s only fair to tell of them. ”

“ Emberg called Larry to him and looked the boy over critically.
“You seem pretty strong and healthy,” the city editor said.
“I guess I am,” replied Larry, wondering what was coming next.
“How would you like to take a trip under the Hudson River?” asked Mr. Emberg.
Larry did not know what to say. Occasionally the city editor joked, and the boy thought this might be one of those times.
“I don’t believe I could swim that far,” Larry said at length. “That is, not under water.” On the surface, splashing about, Larry knew he would be at home, though he had never thought of tackling the big stream. ”

“ But Larry’s regrets at what might have happened were soon dispersed by what was taking place right around him. He felt himself being carried upstairs, and he made up his mind that it was useless to struggle any more. He was in the hands of strong men and it would be better to use cunning rather than force. He realized that he was near a big city and that there were plenty of police to ferret out crime of any description whatever. ”

“ The heads of the strikers, incensed at the articles Mr. Newton had been writing about them, had determined on revenge. Whether they thought that by capturing a reporter they could stop the articles from going into the paper Larry could not guess. It was more likely, he thought, that the men merely wanted to scare Mr. Newton and make him tone down the descriptions of the acts committed by the strikers. ”

“ With a graceful curve the craft swung up to where Larry and Tony clung to the keel of their boat. The man at the wheel pulled a lever and the screw reversed, though the engines did not stop. The motor boat slowed up, and, as it slowly passed by, the two in the water grasped the gunwale, which was low, and pulled themselves aboard, before the craft had come to a stop. ”

“ Then came cries of fear and pain, mingled with the shouts of men in the fiercely burning structure.
“I’ll need help on this story!” exclaimed Mr.35 Newton. “I wonder—— Say, Larry,” he went on, turning to the boy, “can you use a telephone?”
“Yes,” replied Larry, who had used one several times at Campton.
“Then call up the Leader office. The number’s seventeen hundred and eighty-four. Ask for the city editor, and tell him Newton said to send down a couple of men to help cover the fire. Run as if you were in a race!” ”

“ Larry thought with a sigh. He imagined it was some magic gift that comes to only a favored few. And so, in the main, it does, but at heart every boy is a reporter, for if he doesn’t tell his chum or the family at home the different things he sees during the day he’s only half a boy. And telling the things one sees is, after all, the beginning of reporting,75 for that’s all a newspaper does, only on a larger scale. ”

“ He looked at Larry as well as he could in the darkness.
“Stand still until I strike a match,” he said. “I want to have a good look at you.”
“You don’t look like a very bad burglar,” he said after a close examination. “But you never can tell nowadays about burglars. Some of the best looking are the worst thieves. You come along with me.”
“We’d better hurry,” said Larry, “or the two men might come back and catch me again.”
“What two men?”
Thereupon the boy told his story briefly.
“Why, you astonish me!” the old gentlemen exclaimed. “To think that such things can go on in New York. ”

“ Is anyone looking?”
“Not a person in sight,” was the reply as the other man gazed up and down the street. “Go ahead.”
Larry was picked up as if he was a baby and carried from the carriage, across the sidewalk, and into a dark hallway. During the short trip across the pavement the boy noticed that it was getting dusk. He knew then that the last edition of the Leader had gone to press and that the copy he had in his pocket had not reached the office on time. He felt like crying, for fear Mr. Emberg and Mr. Newton would think it was his fault he had failed in his work. ”

“ Newton joined Larry half an hour later, and the pair went to the boy’s room, above where the strange men had been working for some time.
“Are they downstairs?” whispered Mr. Newton.
“Yes,” said Larry, “and the detectives are hidden in a room across the hall. I guess they’ll break in any minute now. We can hear them through the crack. I have made it bigger so we can see well.”
Larry and the reporter knelt down and applied their eyes to the hole in the floor. They could observe the men moving about, and could see the golden glow that filled the apartment. ”

“ You’ll get six dollars a week now instead of five dollars. You’ll find it pays to keep your eyes and ears open in this business.”
“I’m going to be a reporter some day,” said Larry. “I’m studying nights now.”
“Good!” exclaimed Mr. Emberg. “I’ll help you all I can, and if there’s a chance you shall have it. You have proved that you have a nose for news, which is something a number who think they are real reporters have not,” and Larry felt prouder than ever. ”