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. “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. 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.