“I guess I am,” replied Larry, wondering what was coming next.
“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.”