The rebuke the unfortunate reporter received produced a feeling of uneasiness among the others on the staff of the _Leader_, and there were many whispered conferences among the men that afternoon. However the “ax” did not fall again, much to the relief of several who knew they had not been doing as well as they might—the “ax” being the reporter’s slang for getting discharged. When the last edition had been run off on the thundering presses in the basement, the reporters gathered in small groups in different parts of the room, and began talking over the events of the day. Larry saw his friend Harvey Newton come in from an assignment. “How did you make out to-day, Larry?” asked Mr. Newton. “Pretty fair,” responded the boy. “I didn’t have any big stories, though.” “They’ll come in time. Better go slow and sure.” “Did you strike anything good?” “Not much. I’ve been down to City Hall all day, working on a tip I got of some land deal a political gang is trying to put through. Something about a big tract in the Bronx, but I didn’t land it.” The remark made Larry stop and think. He remembered his mother had, among her papers, a deed to some land in that section of New York City called the Bronx, because it was near a small river of that name. The land had been taken by Mr. Dexter in connection with some deal, and had never been considered of any value. One day, as told in the previous volume, Mrs. Dexter was about to destroy the old deed, but Larry restrained her. He thought the land might some day be of value. So the document was put away. When Mr. Newton spoke Larry wondered if, by any chance, the land the reporter mentioned as being that over which a political deal was being made, could be located near that which was represented by the old deed. He made up his mind to speak of it some time. It was now about four o’clock, and, as the reporters went off duty in half an hour, Mr. Emberg was busy over the assignment book. The _Leader_ was an afternoon paper, but sometimes there were things occurring at night that had to be “covered” or attended to in order to get an account of them for the next day. Usually only very important events were covered at night by the _Leader_, since the morning papers, or news associations, got accounts of them. Mr. Emberg came over toward Larry with a slip of paper in his hand. “How would you like to try your hand at a funny story?” the city editor asked the boy. “I’d like to, only I don’t know that I could do it. What sort of a story is it?” “Amateur night at a theater. Did you ever see one?” Larry said he had not, and Mr. Emberg explained that the managers of certain cheap theaters, in order to get some variety, frequently had amateur nights at their playhouses. They would allow any one who came along to go on the stage between the acts of the regular performance, and sing, dance, recite, do feats of strength, or whatever the amateur considered his specialty.