The insurance investigation lasted for several days and Larry was kept busy carrying copy for Mr. Newton. On the second day Peter Manton reappeared, with a large discolored spot over his right eye where Larry had hit him. The former office boy on the Leader did not glance at Larry, but, on the contrary, seemed anxious to escape observation. Jim did not come back.  
“I’m not afraid of him,” thought Larry. But he decided it would be better to run no risks of being late with his copy, so he determined to avoid an encounter with Peter.
 
With this end in view Larry used the main corridor in going and coming from the chamber. That was filled with people on various errands and Larry had no fear that Peter would try to stop him. In fact Larry was not physically afraid at all, but he felt he owed the paper a duty to avoid anything that would cause trouble.
 
But Peter showed no desire to make any. He kept out of Larry’s way and seemed to be content96 with attending to his own work of rushing copy for the reporter he was aiding.
 
Larry was not sorry when the last day of the investigation came. The novelty had worn off, and it was rather tiresome sitting and listening to questions and answers. The only relief came when he went out with copy and came back. The reporters, also, were weary of the grind.
 
“Well, Larry,” remarked Mr. Newton on the afternoon of the final hearing. “I think we’re entitled to a holiday. What do you say?”
 
“I don’t believe we’ll get it,” said Larry with a smile.
 
“Maybe not a day off, but any kind of work will be a holiday after what I’ve been through. I’d like to report even a missionary meeting for a change.”
 
For some time thereafter Larry was kept busy in the office. He proved himself very useful, and every day was learning more about the business. Meanwhile he was not neglecting his studies at home, in preparation for the night school.
 
With the professor he plodded over the books, learning to become a better reader, more proficient in arithmetic and in writing. Then too, he began to study history, for the teacher told him it was necessary, if he was to write about things modern, to know what had happened in the past.
 
So Larry not only dipped into the happenings of the past in this country but what had taken97 place in others. It was hard work. After a long day at the office, to sit down and tackle dry subjects was something few boys would care about. It would have been easier to go off to a bowling alley or to the theater. But Larry, though he wanted to do those things, felt that he owed it to himself and his mother to try and advance himself. And advancement he realized could only come by learning more than he already knew.
 
One day, early in September, Mr. 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.
 
“I guess you won’t have to swim,” went on the city editor.
 
“What do you mean then?” asked Larry.
 
“I’m going to send you on a trip with Mr.98 Newton,” Mr. Emberg went on. “You’ll have to start in half an hour.”
 
“All right,” responded Larry. He had formed the habit of not asking many questions, for he had found in the newspaper business it was best to follow orders and to hold oneself in readiness for anything that might turn up. Larry had no idea where he was going, but Mr. Emberg soon enlightened him.
 
“You know they have been digging a tunnel beneath the Hudson River, so as to bring passengers from Jersey City over to New York without using the ferry,” the city editor went on. Larry did, for he had read of the project in the paper. “Well,” resumed Mr. Emberg, “one of the tubes is about finished. All that remains is to cut through a thin brick wall, or bulkhead, as it is called, and one can walk from New York to New Jersey under the bottom of the river.
 
“The company in charge of the tunnel work has invited a number of newspaper men to make the first trip to-day, when the bulkhead will be cut through and the first complete passage under the historic river will be made. Mr. Newton is to go along to represent the Leader.”
 
“But what am I to do?” asked Larry.
 
“You’re going to help us get a beat I hope,” said the city editor.
 
Larry’s eyes brightened. He saw himself on the road to becoming a reporter.
 
99 “You see,” Mr. Emberg went on, “the company in charge of the work is not exactly sure that their plans will succeed. So they have asked a number of newspaper men to go along on the trial trip. But they have been very quiet about it and no other paper than ours—at least I hope so—knows what the real purpose of the trip is. Most of the reporters think it is only a jaunt to see how the work has progressed. There have been a number of such.
 
“So carefully have the builders laid their plans that they think, once all the reporters are down in the big tube, they cannot get out to say whether the thing is a success or a failure, in time to reach the afternoon papers. As for the morning papers, if the thing is a failure it will be so covered up by the ............