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. 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.” CHAPTER XXXII THE FLOOD INCREASES Late that night, after Larry and Mr. Newton had gone to bed, they were awakened by a noise and excitement in the street. The rain had let up a little, and they got out of bed and went to a window. “What’s the matter?” called Mr. Newton to a man down in the street. “The dam at Meadeville has burst,” was the reply. “Ours will go in about ten hours!” “That means work for to-morrow,” commented the reporter. “Hadn’t we better get out now and see what’s going on?” asked Larry. “No, it wouldn’t do any good. There’s no immediate danger, or they would have told us. So we might as well stay in bed and rest up. The chances are we’ll not get to bed at all to-morrow night.” “Not get to bed?” “No,” replied the reporter. “When you get to be a real newspaper man, Larry, you’ll find that your time is the paper’s you work for. You mustn’t sleep or be awake except in the interests of the sheet. But when there’s nothing doing, get all the rest you can. You’ll need it sometimes. 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.