larry went back to the hotel to report to mr. newton. he did not find him there, and so walked around in the corridor. the men were gathered in groups, talking of nothing but the storm and the danger.
“worst i ever see in fifty years,” said one old man. “i remember the year deacon stout’s old gray mare died the waters riz so high they floated my barn, by gosh, but that wa’n’t nothin’ to this.”
“she’s goin’ t’ rage an’ tear things apart,” said his neighbor.
other men were saying much the same thing. in one corner larry saw a woman crying, while others were trying to comfort her.
“i can’t help it,” said the weeping one. “the waters washed away our house and we’ve lost everything we had in the world.”
“never mind, it’s lucky you and the children were saved,” spoke some of those about her.
“when did the house wash away?” asked larry, thinking this might be some news for mr. newton to put in his story.
258 “a little while ago,” replied one of the women. “it was down quite close to the river, and these people wouldn’t move out when their neighbors did. they came near being drowned when the waters rose suddenly. men had to rescue them in boats.”
larry asked several more questions, getting the name of the rescued ones, and the location of the house. he wrote the incident up as well as he could on some paper he procured from the hotel clerk.
“what’s this?” asked mr. newton, when he came in half an hour later, and larry handed him the sheets.
“just a little something i picked up around the hotel, and thought might go in the story,” replied the boy.
“good for you!” exclaimed the reporter. “you’re the kind of a helper to have. did you arrange about the telegraph?”
larry repeated what the operator had said, and then mr. newton started to write his story. he used what larry had given him, fixing it up a bit, and soon had quite a batch of stuff ready to be telegraphed. larry took it over to the office, and, while he was gone, mr. newton continued to write. by the time larry returned the reporter had another batch ready.
“there,” he said as he rubbed his aching fingers, “i guess that will be enough for to-day259 unless something breaks loose. now, after you come back from the office, we’ll have dinner.”
during the afternoon mr. newton and larry walked about the town. the reporter wanted to familiarize himself with the location of various buildings so if the place was swept away he would be able to write intelligently about it.
toward evening they paid another visit to the dam. they found a bigger crowd than ever at it, and there was a group of men with lanterns walking about.
“what’s going on?” asked mr. newton of a man who stood near.
“going to try dynamite,” said the man.
“not to blow up the dam?”
“oh, my, no! going to try and blow a hole in the side of the hill quite a ways up the reservoir to see if they can let some of the water out and relieve the pressure on the dam.”
“when will they do that?”
“first thing in the morning.”
“that will be more news for us, larry,” spoke mr. newton.
“are you newspaper men?” inquired the man.
“yes, from the new york leader,” replied the reporter and larry was proud to be in the same class with mr. newton, though he knew he had not gotten there yet.
“well, you’ll have plenty of news soon,” the man continued.
260 “how so?”
“why, the water’s risen six inches this afternoon. it’s only a foot and a half from the top of the dam now. then we just got word that a small dam up at a place called meadeville is liable to burst any minute. it won’t do much damage up there, but the water feeds into this reservoir and if it gets here, which it’s liable to do to-morrow, why, this whole thing will go.”
“i wonder if our hotel’s in any danger?” asked the reporter.
“no,” replied the man. “that’s on high ground, but the part of the town to the west of it is in a very dangerous position, if the dam gives way.”
“well, it’s a comfort to know you have a safe place to sleep, at any rate,” mr. newton remarked, “but i’m sorry for the others.”
larry and his friend spent some more time looking around, and then decided to go back to the hotel. the whole town was full of excitement. few persons dared go to bed, for fear the calamity would overtake them. they preferred to sit up and wait for it. a large force of men were stationed at the dam to give warning in all directions at the first sign of a break of any kind.
larry managed to get a few winks of sleep, but he was too anxious about the flood, and also worried about his sister, to rest well. as for mr.261 newton, nothing seemed to worry him, and he slept as well as though at home.
the rain let up a bit toward morning, but the heavy clouds and the unchanged wind showed that the storm was not over. the first thing after breakfast and getting their mail, including a letter with fair news for larry, mr. newton went out to the dam. the waters had risen slightly, and some engineers who had been summoned said that the pressure on the stone wall was now enormous, and must, unless the flood went down, burst it.
“we’ll go and take a look at the place where they’re going to dynamite,” said mr. newton.
they found a corps of men busy. red flags placed here and there warned the people to keep back from the danger zone. the place where the explosive was going to be set off was near a deep gully, and the men hoped to drive the waters into it and away from the town and dam.
“how soon are they going to set it off?” mr. newton asked of a man who had one of the red flags.
“in about an hour,” was the reply.
“then we’ll stay and watch it,” said mr. newton to larry. “i can send an account of it to the paper. it will make good reading.”
the preparations went busily on. it began to rain again, but the men working at the dynamite explosion did not seem to mind it. they were262 too interested in the result of the experiment which might mean so much to all of them.
at last those bearing the red flags, at a signal from someone in charge, warned the onlookers farther back.
“i guess it’s going off now!” said mr. newton. “we’d better get away a bit.”
they retreated several hundred feet. while they were wondering whether they were far enough off there came a dull rumble and roar. the ground seemed to tremble and then, as they looked, they saw a mass of earth and rocks rise high in the air.
“there she goes!” exclaimed larry.
“now let’s see if it does any good,” said mr. newton.
they looked to see if the big lake of water would become less as a new outlet was provided, but it did not. either the dynamite had not been placed right, or the men had calculated too much on its power. at any rate, though a big hole was blown in the hill, near the ravine, there was still a large piece of earth between the gully and the imprisoned water. the dynamite had failed to do its work.
“come on,” said mr. newton to larry. “we’ll get some stuff off to the paper and then we can come back.”
through the mud and rain they splashed to the hotel. there the reporter wrote up his story and263 sent larry to the telegraph office with it, about a mile and a half away.
“i tell you what it is,” said mr. newton on larry’s return, “we’ll have to get up a new scheme. it takes too long to go from the hotel to the telegraph office. i wonder how we can save time.”
“i might run faster,” suggested larry.
“no, you run fast enough now. i’m not finding fault with you.”
“i might hire a bicycle.”
“how do you mean?”
“why, i mean i could get a wheel here, and take the copy in on that. i could also get out to the dam, and you could follow. then you could write the stuff there and i could rush it to the telegraph office right from the scene.”
“good idea!” exclaimed mr. newton. “we’ll do it. but can you ride a bicycle in this weather?”
“i guess so,” said larry. “i’m pretty good on one. besides the roads are hard, and the rain hasn’t hurt them much.”
that afternoon larry made arrangements to hire a wheel, which he brought around to the hotel. he found that, though it was a trifle awkward to ride it with a rubber coat and big boots on, he could manage, but he did not make as fast time as he would have done otherwise.
“but it’s better than walking,” said larry.
264 that day, and the one which followed, were anxious ones. the water rose steadily, but so slowly that it could scarcely be noticed, on account of being spread over such a large surface. the engineers reported that the strain on the dam was increasing.
many more people whose houses were nearest to the rising waters began moving out. appeals for help were sent to nearby towns, and several boats were brought over to be used in case of emergency. several small gasolene boats also came, and one man offered to bring his steam launch over if the flood continued.
in the meanwhile the people were filled with anxiety. they could do no work, and stood around waiting for what they feared would happen.
mr. newton sent off a good account to his paper. that evening he went down to the railroad station. on the last train in came several young men, and a number of boys with them.
“i thought they’d be soon here,” said mr. newton to larry.
“who are they?”
“reporters from other new york papers. now we’ll have to hustle for beats.”
