From Office Boy to Reporter; Or, The First Step in Journalism

by Howard Roger Garis

The carriage containing the boy and his captors now began traveling over more uneven roads, and Larry rightly guessed that they were in the upper part of the city, in the section known as the Bronx.

For perhaps an hour longer the vehicle moved on. Then it came to a stop. One of the men raised a curtain and peered out.

“Here we are!” he exclaimed. “We’ll carry him in. Is anyone looking?”

“Not a person in sight,” was the reply as the other man gazed up and down the street. “Go ahead.”

Larry was picked up as if he was a baby and carried from the carriage, across the sidewalk, and into a dark hallway. During the short trip across the pavement the boy noticed that it was getting dusk. He knew then that the last edition of the Leader had gone to press and that the copy he had in his pocket had not reached the office on time. He felt like crying, for fear Mr. Emberg and Mr. Newton would think it was his fault he had failed in his work. They might believe he had deliberately stayed away.

But Larry’s regrets at what might have happened were soon dispersed by what was taking place right around him. He felt himself being carried upstairs, and he made up his mind that it was useless to struggle any more. He was in the hands of strong men and it would be better to use cunning rather than force. He realized that he was near a big city and that there were plenty of police to ferret out crime of any description whatever.

Larry believed that his absence would soon be noticed and that a search would be made for him. So, though he was much frightened, he resolved to be as brave as possible and to wait with patience until he was released. He had no fear that the men would do him any real harm.

The man carrying him went up four flights of stairs, and Larry knew, from that, that he must be in some sort of tenement house or some large factory. The places seemed quiet, and Larry thought if it was a house it must be a deserted one.

At this he began to have a little fear. He was afraid of being left all alone somewhere far from home, for he knew New York was a big place, and one might be within the city limits, yet miles from any real population. But the boy did not have long to indulge in fancies.

The man carrying him set him down rather roughly, and Larry staggered and would have fallen had not another man, who had followed the first one, caught him.