this?” asked the city editor.
“That story of amateur night,” replied Larry.
“Oh, yes, I'd forgotten all about it. I'm glad you have the copy in early, as I want you to make a quick trip out of town.”
“Any more floods?” asked Larry, thinking of the big one he had helped cover when he was a copy boy.
“Not this time; this is only to take a run over to New Jersey, to a little town called Cranford.”
“What's the matter out there?”
“I want you to see Professor Allen. He is to deliver a lecture at the dinner of the Engineers' Club to-night, and he has promised a copy of his remarks in advance.”
Larry was soon on his way, crossing the Hudson River on the ferry to the New Jersey side, where he took a train for Cranford. He found Professor Allen's house without much trouble, and inquired for the gentleman.
“I don't believe you can see him,” replied the girl who answered the door.
“Why not; isn't he at home?” asked Larry.
“Well, he is and he isn't,” replied the servant. “You see he's out in his laboratory making experiments, which is what he's most always up to, and he hasn't been in to his meals for a week.”
“Hasn't he eaten for a week?” asked Larry, in some surprise.
“Oh, bless your heart, of course he's eaten, but he will not come to the table. His wife has to go out to the laboratory with a plate of victuals and a cup of coffee, and fairly feed him.”
“What's the trouble?”
“Oh, you see he's working on a new invention.”
“What sort?” asked Larry, thinking he might get a story out of it.
“Don't ask me,” cried the servant, with a laugh, for she evidently took Larry for some boy on an errand. “It's all about wheels and levers and steam and electricity. As near as I can get at, it's a plan to make an automobile out of a tea kettle.”
“Don't you suppose I could see the professor?” asked the young reporter.
“Well, you can try,” said the girl. “The laboratory is that small white building down at the far end of the yard. Go down there, and walk right in. If you knock he'll never answer. Mrs. Allen has just fed him his breakfast, and perhaps he'll talk to you a little.”
Larry decided this was the only way of securing what he wanted, so he made his way to the laboratory, and, remembering the injunction, entered the door and walked in.
He found himself in a large room, fairly filled with machinery and appliances of all kinds. Overhead there were shafts and pulleys, while all about the sides were benches, lathes, wheels, levers, handles, and springs of various sorts.
Down in one corner was an elderly gentleman, in rather an old and ragged suit, at work over a bench. He did not look up as Larry entered, but called out:
“Come here and give me a hand with this. I'm in a hurry.”
Larry looked around to see if the professor could be speaking to anyone else, but, finding that he was the only one in the room besides the scientist, the lad concluded he was the one addressed.
“Hurry, please,” added Mr. Allen, looking straight at Larry. “I am in the midst of an important experiment.”
Thereupon Larry went to the bench. Mr. Allen was holding one end of a long steel tube from which radiated several smaller tubes of glass. At one end of the steel tube was a rubber pipe which was attached to a gas jet, and at the other end of the tube there was another pipe which was fastened to a water faucet.
“Turn on the gas a little more, and then help me hold this tube,” spoke the scientist. “I am generating steam.”
He spoke as though it was the most natural thing in the world for Larry to be there, and give him assistance. Larry recognized that Mr. Allen was too much absorbed in his experiment to care who helped him, so the boy lent a hand.
Larry turned the gas on, and then grasped one end of the tube. Mr. Allen held the other. There was a curious rumbling sound, followed by a roar.
“Duck! She's going to explode again!” cried Mr. Allen, dropping his end of the tube, and crawling under a table. Larry lost no time in following his example. The next instant there was a loud report, and pieces of the tube and rubber hose were flying in all directions.
“It's all over, you can come out now,” remarked the scientist, in a quiet voice, a few seconds later.
“Does it often act that way?” inquired Larry, earnestly.
“That's the twenty-seventh time it has blown up,” replied the professor. “I guess the glass is not strong enough for the steam.”
“Isn't it dangerous?” ventured Larry.
“Dangerous? Of course it is! That's what I expect in this business. But I have another tube here, and we'll try it again. Just take your coat off, and help me.”