But Larry, with the facts in his possession and a lively recollection of what had taken place, hurried to the _Leader_ office.
“I just wish I could write it, but I don’t s’pose I can, yet,” he said. “But I can tell one of the reporters and he can fix it up.”
He found Mr. Newton there ahead of him, and to the reporter Larry in breathless tones told what had happened.
“Good!” exclaimed Mr. Newton. “You just tell that to Mr. Emberg himself. He’ll be glad to know you are so wide-awake. One of the men will write for you. Perhaps it will be a beat for us.”
“Oh, but some of the other papers will be sure to hear of it,” said Larry.
“They may get something about it, but not many reporters are around that early. The cops who made the arrest will go off duty and there will not be many to tell the details of the chase. That’s the best part of it. We may not get a beat in one sense of the word, but we’ll have the best story.”
When Mr. Emberg came in, Larry, after a few minutes of hesitation, got up courage enough to advance and tell the story.
“Well, you certainly had your eyes open,” said the city editor.
“I thought it would make a good story,” said Larry.
“So it will. You know what’s news all right, youngster!”
And that was the best praise Larry had that day.
“Here, Newton,” went on Mr. Emberg, “you fix Larry’s story up. Give it plenty of space and throw in lots of fun.”
Then Larry told his friend the story of the stolen pocketbook from beginning to end. Mr. Newton became infused with Larry’s enthusiasm at the description of the upsetting of the ash barrel and the peanut stand. He made many notes and then sat down at a typewriter and began to make his fingers fly as rapidly as he possibly could.
Larry could hardly wait for the paper to come out that afternoon, so anxious was he to see “his story,” as he called it. There it was, right on the front page, under a display head:
Steals a Purse, Is Buried Beneath a Shower of Ashes and Upsets a Peanut Cart
Then came the story, almost as Larry had told it himself with all the energy he could throw into it, but dressed up in true reportorial style. Larry was as proud as if he had written it himself.
“Who got the thief story?” he heard several reporters ask, after the first edition came out.