Air pilots -- Juvenile fiction; Mystery and detective stories; Reporters and reporting -- Juvenile fiction
“Carl,” he said, “I’m in a queer position. I have no business to be here
at all. I ought to be in Springfield. My managing editor thinks I am
there. Gee! He might even have been trying to get me. He may have some
orders for me. I never thought of that. I could slip right back there
and maybe he’d never know the difference. But here’s a story. It’s a
good story, even if I did have a part in it. The _Press_ ought to have
it. Maybe we can scoop the other New York papers on it. I’m going to
shoot it in as quick as I can, no matter what the Old Man says about my
taking too much rope. He can fire me if he wants to. But I’m not going
to see the _Press_ beaten on its own story. Gee! He’d fire me for that,
sure. How can I get to a telegraph office quickest?”
“In a motor car, I should think. Thank heaven the barn didn’t burn. Our
car is in it. I’ll pull on some trousers and——By Jove! I don’t own any
trousers. They are all burned up. I’ll go as I am. And I’ll get you to
the telegraph office as fast as gasoline will take us.”
He did. Jimmy ran into the office and began to write. He handed the
sheets to the operator as fast as they were written, with the injunction
to rush the stuff. The operator ticked off the story as Jimmy wrote.
Because he was full of the matter, and because he could see so vividly
in his mind the scene he was describing, Jimmy once more wrote a
gripping story. He told in simple words how the pilot of the _Morning
Press_ plane, flying over Wilbraham, had noticed flames issuing from a
hillside home; how the pilot had awakened the sleeping inmates by diving
at the house with roaring motor; how later the pilot and a farm boy had
saved the life of a lad trapped in the third floor of the burning
building; and how this rescued youth had proved to be a lifelong friend
of the pilot.
“Gee,” said Jimmy, when he had finished the story, “I slipped up there.
I forgot to get the name of that farm boy. I’ll let it go now, but I’ll
be more careful next time.”
Then he wrote another message. It was to the managing editor.
At once the managing editor got into touch with him by telephone.
“We have further news about the New Hampshire flood,” he said. “It’s
even bigger than I thought. I’m sorry I didn’t send another man with
you.”
“I’ve got a friend here,” answered Jimmy, “who could help me if you are
willing. It’s the lad we just saved from the fire. He’s an old friend. I
can make good use of him. Shall I take him?”
“Get anybody you can who can help you,” was the answer.
Jimmy called out to Carl: “Could you go on up to New Hampshire with me
and help me cover a flood story?”
“If they can spare me at home, I’ll go gladly if it will help you any.”
Jimmy turned back to the telephone. “I think it is all right, Mr.
Johnson,” he said.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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