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. You266 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.
 
Finally, after admiring the calm and peaceful manner in which Mr. Newton dropped off to sleep, Larry found his eyes growing heavy. He began to dream he was swimming in a flood of waters, and trying to climb to the top of a big dam, from which he fell back with a shock that woke him up.
 
He aroused himself with a suddenness that startled him, to find Mr. Newton shaking him vigorously.
 
“I didn’t mean for you to sleep so sound you couldn’t wake up,” said the reporter with a smile. “It’s time to hustle out and see what’s doing, I guess.”
 
“Is it raining yet?” asked Larry.
 
“Like cats and dogs. We’re going to have a267 bad day. But never mind. There’ll be lots of news.”
 
And news there was in plenty. In anticipation of the danger the people knew would result when the waters from the broken dam at Meadeville reached them, many inhabitants that had not hitherto moved from their houses did so now.
 
Boats were at a premium, as they were needed to convey the people and their most valued possessions to high ground. There was a range of hills back of the town, and there most of those who left their homes were going.
 
By reason of its position about half of the town was in danger of inundation should the dam break. It was the people living in that section who were getting out. The others were in comparatively no danger. Some of these latter gave shelter to those who deserted their homes, but as it was the better and wealthier section of Stoneville that was in danger, the inhabitants of the poorer part could not offer much in the way of accommodations.
 
Some got tents which, in spite of the rain, they erected on the hill tops, and there, with what few things they could take away in boats, they set up camps.
 
Business was suspended. All the men who could joined in and helped to care for the unfortunates or transport their household goods and valuables. As soon as he had sent off a story268 Mr. Newton joined in this work, and Larry helped him.
 
There were many other reporters on the scene now, and some had brought copy boys or office assistants along to help them. For once in its history Stoneville found itself of much importance to the outside world, for the news of the flood was eagerly read.
 
When Larry was coming back from the telegraph office with his second batch of copy, pedaling his wheel along the muddy street, he heard a voice call:
 
“Hello, kid! What you doing here?”
 
He looked up to behold his old enemy Peter Manton.
 
“I’m working for Mr. Newton,” replied Larry, not feeling any too friendly.
 
“I’m working too,” volunteered Peter, seemingly forgetting that there was an old score between him and Larry. “I’m on the Scorcher. I’ll bet we beat you fellows all hollow. The Scorcher plays up news in red type on the front page. It’s a dandy paper.”
 
Larry did not reply, but Peter called after him:
 
“Where you stopping?”
 
“At the hotel,” replied Larry, not caring to be impolite.
 
“See you later,” called Peter as he kept on toward the telegraph office. “Yes, I’ll see you later, and I guess you’ll wish you hadn’t seen269 me,” muttered Peter, shaking his fist at Larry’s back. If Larry could have seen this he might have worried a little, but, as it was, he did not.
 
Getting back to the hotel, Larry found the place filled with excited men............