“No yellow copy came up this afternoon,” said the tube boy. “The last batch I took out was a story about the new monument, and that was all.”
“That’s the copy you took, Peter, about the same time I sent the story about Alderman Murphy up,” said Mr. Emberg.
“I don’t know nothin’ about no yellow copy,” said Peter sullenly.
“I’ll inquire in the copy room downstairs,” said the city editor. With the boys following him, he went to the apartment where the pipe was located, in which the copy was sent upstairs. It was the duty of one boy to remain here all the while the paper was going to press to see that the machinery was in order.
“Who sent up the last copy, Dudley?” asked Mr. Emberg.
“Peter Manton,” replied Dudley. “There was some other fellow that ran in the last minute, but Peter took the copy from him and said he’d send it up.”
“What kind of copy was it?” asked the city editor.
“On red--no--it was on yellow paper,” replied Dudley.
“And did you see Peter put it in the pipe?” asked Mr. Emberg.
“No, sir. I didn’t look at him closely. I had to turn on a little more compressed air then, and I was too busy to take much notice.”
“Peter, you never sent that copy up!” exclaimed the city editor suddenly, turning to the sulking office boy. “You are up to some trick. Tell me what you did with it.”
But Mr. Emberg, with a quick motion, leaned forward and tore open Peter’s coat. Out on the floor tumbled a number of yellow sheets of paper. Mr. Emberg picked some of them up.
“There’s the missing copy,” he said. “Peter, you can go downstairs, get what money is coming to you, and go. We don’t want you here any more.”
He turned to leave. As he passed Larry he muttered in a low turn:
“This is all your fault. Wait until I get a chance! I’ll pay you back all right, all right!”
Then, before Larry could answer, Peter shuffled down the hall. And that was the end of Peter on the _Leader_, though it was by no means the last Larry saw of him.
Thus the first day of Larry’s life on a big newspaper came to a close and it was with considerable pride that he started for home. He felt he had done well, though he had made one or two mistakes. He was a little worried about what pay he was going to get, and he had a little fear lest he might be paid nothing while learning.