“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. 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. “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 engineers, that the reporters will never know it. “Now my plan is this! I want you to go along with Mr. Newton. You will be his assistant, for each invitation admits two. If the thing should succeed, which I think it will, we want to know it this afternoon; not to-morrow. And if it does succeed, it will only be known to those down in the tube.