The Flying Reporter

by Herbert Strang

  CHAPTER IX

  Covering a Great Flood by Airplane

  When Jimmy explained to Mr. Dexter that he needed help the next day andhad asked Carl to assist him, Mr. Dexter reluctantly consented for Carlto go with him. Carl was really needed at home in this emergency, forthere would be much to do. But Mr. Dexter was so grateful to Jimmy forsaving his son's life, and for perhaps saving all their lives, that hedid not feel as though he could refuse the request. So it was settledthat Carl and Jimmy should take off at dawn the next morning.

  Neighbors lent the lad some shoes and clothes. And though these did notlook very well, they answered the purpose all right. The question ofshelter for the night was solved with equal ease. Neighbors took thehomeless family into their own homes. Jimmy wanted to be near his plane.The lad who had guided Jimmy from his plane to the burning home saidthat his grandfather lived in the white house by the mowing where theplane was standing, and would be glad to take the two fliers in for thenight. So Jimmy and Carl found themselves housed for the night in a verycomfortable home, close by the airplane. They were assured that no onewould molest the ship, for the big farm dog would drive off allintruders.

  Relieved in his mind, Jimmy prepared to get some sleep, in preparationfor the hard day he foresaw for the morrow. But before he went to bed,he got out his maps and studied the topography of the region over whichhe had to fly the next day. Northend, the town that had been wiped outby the flood, was some miles north of Berlin. It was at the lower end ofa little valley, which was almost entirely surrounded by mountains. TheAndroscoggin River flowed through the little city.

  "It's plain enough what has happened," said Jimmy to Carl. "There musthave been a dam up the river and it gave way. There was no place for thewall of water to go but straight through the heart of Northend. Thesetwo mountains at the southern end of the town are like the shoulders ofa bottle. There's only a narrow neck between them, for the water to passthrough. If this jammed up with debris, the whole town would be underwater."

  They studied the map in silence for a few moments. "Gee!" said Carl."There's plenty of mountains up there. How are you going to get there?"

  "We'll fly directly up the Connecticut River, between Vermont and NewHampshire, until we pass South Columbia. Then we'll fly east past themountains until we strike the Androscoggin. We'll follow that streamsouth to Northend. What we'll do for a landing-place I don't know. Themap doesn't look very promising. But I suspect we can pick out someplace that will answer. Anyway, we'll cross that bridge when we get toit. But you can remember to watch for possible landing-places after weleave the Connecticut to-morrow. That's a rough country up there innorthern New Hampshire."

  Their thoughtful hosts looked after the lads' every need, even tolending them an alarm clock. Soon the boys were sound asleep in a bed assoft as down. It had been an exciting day for both of them, and each wasready for slumber.

  When the alarm rang, Jimmy sat up in bed indignantly. "Confound thatthing!" he said. "Something's wrong with it. We haven't been abed tenminutes."

  But his watch showed him that the only thing wrong was his own sense oftime. It was almost dawn. The boys arose instantly and dressed quietly,so as not to disturb their hosts. They tiptoed down-stairs, their shoesin their hands. But when they reached the kitchen there was a surprisein store for them. Their hostess was not only up and dressed, but asubstantial breakfast awaited them. Jimmy hardly knew what to say or howto thank her. She told him the best thanks would be for the two boys toeat a good breakfast. In that way they thanked her heartily enough.Then, bidding their kind hosts goodbye, the two lads hastened to theplane, started the engine, and soon hopped off.

  Straight to Springfield they flew, and there Jimmy landed and had hissupply of gasoline and oil replenished. Then they took off for thenorth, sailing straight up the valley of the Connecticut. On anotheroccasion Jimmy would have been glad to fly leisurely along thisbeautiful river and enjoy the fine scenery. But to-day he had no timefor anything but his job. Well he knew that hard on his heels would comerushing a whole company of newspaper men, if indeed some of them had noteven preceded him in the dark. His job was to get to Northend as quicklyas he could, and collect the material he needed. An hour's start, heknew well, would make all the difference in the world to him. So heopened his throttle and pushed his ship along at a fast pace. He hadconsiderably more than 200 miles to go, for he was playing safe bydoubling around the mountains instead of flying directly over them. Butin considerably less than two hours he had covered the route selectedand was flying south along the Androscoggin, close to Northend. So farhe had not seen a plane anywhere, and he believed he was the first newsflier to reach the scene.

  As he came south along the little river, the land began to rise inswelling heights to right and left, and the level bottom-land becamenarrower and narrower. Presently the _Morning Press_ fliers foundthemselves almost surrounded by mountains. It was like flying through abreak in the side of a bowl into the bowl itself. Ahead of them, behindthem, and to right and left of them, mountains rose, steep, rugged, andmenacing. And in the very centre of this bowl-like valley lay Northend.

  At the present moment the valley was in very truth a bowl, for it wasfairly covered with water. From mountain to mountain the water reached,and what had been the city of Northend looked like a collection of tinyislets in the centre of the vast lake. Individual houses and blocks ofbuildings lifted their dark roofs above the turbid waters.

  "Makes you think of huckleberries floating in a bowl of milk," Carlshouted to Jimmy.

  And that was what the scene did resemble. The huckleberries, of course,were houses. In the centre of the town the buildings rose in solidblocks, like squares of brown bread that had gotten in with thehuckleberries. But in the residential districts the houses stood apart,well separated, and on the very outskirts of the town they were fartherand farther apart. Isolated homes rose from the flood out in what musthave been the suburban or rural regions. Nowhere within the limits ofthe city was there a foot of dry ground visible.

  "It's terrible," shouted Jimmy. Carl nodded his head.

  Jimmy made a complete circle around the little valley, at a goodelevation. From that height he and Carl could see everything. Theirvision ranged from mountain to mountain, unobstructed. Nowhere was thereanother plane. Nowhere was there evidence of activity, save in one ortwo places where small boats were being navigated from house to house.Jimmy was thrilled at the thought that he was the first outsidecorrespondent actually to reach the scene. He resolved that he wouldalso be the first to take to the outer world an eye-witness story of thedisaster. He knew he must work fast to do it. Other newspaper men wouldsoon be on his heels. They would be coming in droves.

  "Get my camera," he shouted to Carl, "and take a snap or two of thescene. Get a picture that shows the whole valley under water, withNorthend in the centre of it."

  Carl could handle a camera, and leaning through an open window, he gotseveral good pictures. The rising sun was shining down into the valleyby this time, illuminating it well.

  Now Jimmy brought his ship down in an easy glide until he was not morethan 200 feet above the flood. He flew back and forth over the town.Carl snapped pictures as they flew and Jimmy watched every feature ofthe scene before him. Now he could see many people looking out of theupper floors of their homes. He could trace the course of the river bythe line of debris and wreckage. For the flood had gone tearing throughthe city, wrecking, smashing, demolishing everything in its pathway.Before it had been swept a vast mass of material, consisting ofoutbuildings, uprooted trees, broken telephone poles, railroad ties, oldboats, wooden bridges, sawlogs, pulp timber, porches, fences,boardwalks, demolished homes, and a thousand other objects that therushing waters had wrenched loose or broken down or torn up. And allthis mass of debris, jamming at the bottle neck, had backed the water upand submerged the town. Jimmy had read his map aright.

  As he flew, Jimmy made mental note of striking things h
e saw. Here was ahouse tilting at an unbelievable angle, its underpinning evidentlywashed away. Here were motor cars standing on their roofs, only theirfour wheels showing above the flood. Here were the remains of an ironbridge that must have weighed scores of tons. Yet the iron work wasrolled into a great mass, like a ball of rope, and the whole thingrested on a smashed front porch of a home. The entire front of the housewas caved in by the force of the blow struck by the iron. Here wererailroad cars turned upside down.

  Through the centre of the town was a wide gap between rows of buildings.At first Jimmy did not catch the significance of this. He thought it wasthe river bed. Then something reminded him of the stream as he had seenit a few miles above Northend. There it was only a little river, a fewrods wide. This breach in the centre of the town was of vast width.Suddenly Jimmy understood. Whole blocks of houses had been washed away.They must be jammed up with the other debris at the bottle neck below.He shuddered at the thought. The loss of life must have been appalling.

  Along either side of this wide pathway of death, the flood waters hadleft their marks. Debris of every conceivable sort had been washed up oneither side of the furrow the flood had plowed through the town, andthere a million odd things had lodged. Old boxes, chicken-coops, boards,timbers, door-steps, wooden gates, tin cans, and a multitude of otherthings had been forced in between houses or up on porches, or throughfirst floor windows, until the scene was terrible beyond description. Itwas plain enough where the wall of water from the broken dam had gonesurging through the town. Like a giant among pygmies, it had mowed downeverything in its path.

  Back and forth Jimmy flew over the distressed city. On the flat tops ofbusiness buildings he saw many people. The upper floors of buildingsseemed to teem with people. On the hills opposite the town he now sawfigures moving. He judged they were people who had reached the heightsbefore the flood overwhelmed the city, or else they were folks from theneighborhood who had come to the assistance of the marooned townspeople.Long ago, all those who could be rescued had been rescued, or had goneto their deaths. How many of them there were and who they were Jimmycould not even guess. But he knew the total must be terrible. He couldnot help to save anybody, but he could get into touch with the survivorsand get the story of the disaster. He began to look about for some meansof accomplishing this end.

  Near the centre of the town was a building that stood up one or twostories higher than any other structure in the city. It was a greatsquarish building, that looked as firm as Gibraltar. Jimmy had noticedit as soon as he reached the town. He couldn't help noticing it. And healso saw that there were people on the flat roof. Now he flew towardthis building, dropping as low as he dared to come. Suddenly his eyeshone with pleasure. On the front of the structure he caught sight of alarge sign, with the gilded name "Northend _Daily News_." He glanced atthe group of people on the roof. He was so close to them that he couldalmost tell the color of their eyes. To his astonishment he saw that adesk had been carried to the roof, together with many chairs, and that aman was seated at the desk, busily typewriting.

  The sight stirred Jimmy's heart. "It's the editor of the Northend _News_writing the story of the flood. I'll bet a dollar it is," thought Jimmy."If only I can get that story, the _Morning Press_ will have the biggestscoop in years."

  He pulled out a pad and scribbled on it as he flew: "Have you the storyof the flood? Can I get it from you? I am from the New York _Press_."Then he turned to Carl. "In my tool kit you'll find a large spool ofsafety wire," he said. "Get that out, put a weight on it, and tie thisnote to it."

  Carl fished out the wire, weighted one end of it with a monkey-wrench,and tied the note to it. Then Jimmy headed directly into the stiffbreeze which was coming up, and when they neared the building againthrottled his engine down until the ship seemed hardly to have anyforward motion. Carl, meantime, had paid out the wire. Several men onthe roof grabbed for the message, but all missed it. Jimmy made a circleand once more flew over the roof. This time some one caught the note.

  Jimmy circled the town and flew back over the _News_ building. Now hesaw white marks on the roof. Some one had been making great letters witha piece of chalk. They were a message for him. This is what they said."Have entire story. Press room flooded. Have made mats. Can you take toBerlin and arrange to have edition printed and sent here? A truck canreach west side of town by the hill road."

  When Jimmy read that he couldn't suppress a whoop. "Carl," he cried."Just think! He's got the story set up and the mats made for casting thestereotype plates. If we can get those mats, we can get proofs of thewhole story. It'll be the beat of the year."

  He scribbled another note. "Will land and try to reach you. Haveeverything ready. Will fly to Berlin with the mats and make arrangementsfor edition for you." The next time he flew over the _News_ building,this message was skilfully dropped by Carl and caught by the group onthe roof.

  "They got it," shouted Carl.

  Jimmy smiled and nodded. Then he pulled back on his stick, lifted hisplane to a higher elevation, and went soaring straight toward thenearest hillside, looking for a possible landing-place.

  On a hillside farm he found a place that looked favorable. Twice he flewover the place studying it. The ground seemed rough. He was fearful ofit. But he saw no better place and decided to chance it. He came down ina long glide, barely missing some trees. Then he straightened out for alanding. His plane was just skimming the ground, and Jimmy was waitingfor it to lose flying speed when he noticed a low stone wall at theother end of the field. Jimmy knew he was overshooting too much to dareattempt to kill his surplus speed by fish-tailing. He burst the gun wideopen and eased back on the stick. In a second the ship was once moreover the tree tops, and Jimmy circled back again into the wind foranother try at the field. He did a nose high slip and then proceeded indisgust to pancake her in. It was a dangerous move, even for the mostskilled pilot, for always there is danger of falling off on one wing,due to a lack of flying speed. The ship was settling vertically. Justbefore she hit, Jimmy burst the gun half open to give her a little moreforward speed, so she would not settle so hard on her undercarriage.Then she struck, but not hard enough to break anything. Rapidly she cameto rest. With a sigh of relief he throttled down his engine and climbedfrom the plane. He let his motor idle for a few minutes, then cut theswitch.

  "We'll go over to those folks yonder and talk to them," he said,starting toward a group of people who were doing something at adistance.

  They hurried to the workers. A number of people who lived on the hillswere busy making rafts at the water's edge to rescue the marooned; forthere were many folks in the flooded area whose position was stillprecarious. Jimmy talked to the workers. They told him the story of thebreaking of the dam. This was a huge reservoir in the hills, only ashort distance above the city. Continuous rains to the north had swollenevery brook and rivulet until the impounded water had reached athreatening height. There was anxiety about the dam, but no actual fearof its breaking. Then suddenly, without warning, the dam had slid fromits foundations, releasing the entire body of water at once. That waswhat made the catastrophe so awful.

  A wall of water thirty feet high had swept down the valley. Naturally itfollowed the trough of the Androscoggin. That stream, already bank full,could not hold another drop. The result was appalling. Straight throughthe town the huge wall of water had gone, thundering and destroying,smashing and devastating, sweeping away houses as though they had beenchips. Whole blocks of buildings, on either bank of the stream, had beenpicked up and swept down-stream. Jimmy's guess was correct.

  Scores had been killed or were missing. Had the disaster occurred in thedaytime, it might have been possible to save many of them. But coming asit did, just at nightfall, the flood had done its worst. To venture outinto the roaring waters in the dark was sheer suicide. There had beensome rescues. They told Jimmy about those they knew of. There had beenmany deeds of daring. Jimmy learned the stories. Now a great effort wasbeing made to save those who were still in danger. For
the waters wereyet deep and the current swift. Indeed, in the centre of the town thewater was still eight feet deep and sweeping along swiftly, cutting awayground, undermining houses, uprooting poles, and spreading destruction.The work of rescue had been made difficult through the loss of boats.Most of the boats in the town had been swept away in the first fiercerush of water.

  There was one little boat at hand. It was a rickety, sorry-lookingcraft, and it evidently leaked badly. But still it was a boat. Jimmylooked at it. He decided that it would hold together for a few hourslonger.

  "Who owns this boat?" he inquired.

  "I do," said a farmer. "But it ain't much of a boat. I caught it in theflood last night."

  "I'll give you five dollars for it for one hour," said Jimmy.

  "You can have it," said the farmer, "but I warn you it ain't safe to getin it. We tried it and had to come back. The thing almost sunk with us."

  "We'll try it," said Jimmy. "Got something we can bail with?"

  The farmer got them an old pail. There were oars in the boat. Jimmy gottwo strong poles from a pile of wood that lay near.

  "Come on, Carl," he said, stepping toward the craft. "Let's empty her."

  They drew the boat ashore and turned it on its side. When the water hadrun out, they pushed the craft into the flood, stepped carefully intoit, and shoved off. The farmer's description had not been exaggerated.Water began to seep into the boat rapidly.

  "Take the oars and row as hard as you can, Carl," said Jimmy. "I'll bailand tell you how to pull."

  Carl began to row rapidly, and Jimmy started to throw out the water. Bybailing vigorously he could just about keep up with it. They made goodprogress until they came to the built up part of the town. Here thewater rushing between the houses caused eddies and delaying currents.But they kept on steadily, Jimmy telling Carl which way to pull, whilehe himself tossed out bucket after bucket of water. Without the bucketthey would have sunk in a short time.

  They drove straight out toward the street on which the _News_ buildingstood. There they turned and floated straight down the street with thecurrent. The waters were still tearing along between the houses at aterrifying rate. It was appalling to think what it must have been likewhen the flood was at its crest. There was little to do now except bailand steer. There was still plenty of drifting debris in the water, andthis made it dangerous. Always there was the chance that some halfsunken log, swirling up beneath them, would overturn their boat andcatapult them into the flood.

  They drew near the _News_ building. "We've got to be sure we make it,"said Jimmy. "If we are carried past, it will be a deuce of a job gettingback. Get your rope in hand. Put your oars in the boat. I'll steer herwith a pole. Grab a window-frame. I'll knock out the glass ifnecessary."

  They drew swiftly near the _News_ building. It had suffered, like everyother building in town. The water was up to the second story. Apparentlyit was going to be difficult to make a landing.

  "Get ready now," cautioned Jimmy. "If we miss her, I'll try to shoot theboat around the corner of the building. There'll be an eddy there. Grabanything you can catch hold of, and hold fast to your rope."

  Jimmy forced the boat toward a second-story window. The window wasclosed. It looked as though they would have a hard time to make anentrance. Jimmy raised his pole to smash the glass. He was just about tostrike, when the sash was flung up and a man's head thrust through thewindow.

  "Give me your rope, quick," said the man.

  Carl thrust out his hand with the rope. The man took the rope andcarefully snubbed the boat. "Look out," he cried. "Watch that you don'tget thrown out."

  The boat swung round in the current and came to rest alongside thebuilding. Jimmy and Carl climbed carefully through the window, helped bythe man within.

  "We are the fliers who dropped you the message," said Jimmy. "We've comefor the mats."

  "Good," said the man. "Come up on the roof and talk to the boss."

  They ran up the steps to the roof. There sat the man Jimmy had seen atthe desk. He was still typewriting. Jimmy made himself known.

  "I'm from the New York _Morning Press_," he said. "Tell me about theflood, and about your own situation and what you want me to do."

  "No use to tell you anything," said the editor. "Every word I know aboutthe flood is already in type. You can have complete proofs of it if youwill take my mats to the office of the Berlin newspaper and get them toprint the edition. I want 5,000 copies. They can send them back here bytruck or any way they wish, but I must have them at the first possiblemoment. We'll establish headquarters over on the shore, near the placefrom which you started. We've been watching every move you made. That'snear the highway that skirts the west side of the valley. Tell them tosend their papers there just as quick as they can get them printed. Bythat time the water will have gone down some and maybe altogether. Theyare making arrangements to dynamite the jam at the gorge below town.That will let the water drain out."

  Meantime, a printer had been wrapping the mats up carefully in oiledpaper. Another man had attached a long rope to Jimmy's boat and hadworked the boat around into the eddy at the down-stream side of thebuilding. Still another printer came to the roof with duplicate sets ofproofs for Jimmy.

  The latter assured the _News_ editor that he would not fail to carry outhis commission. "I ask just one thing," he said. "Give me an assurancethat I have a start over the next reporter."

  "I'll do that," said the editor. "I can't hold out any news, if anyreporter questions me, but I'll give out no more proofs. That's onlyfair. It's in return for your help. Now you'll have to be hurrying, forthere comes your first competitor."

  Jimmy whirled and looked upward. Sure enough, there was another planecoming down the valley.

  Jimmy delayed only long enough to talk to some of the men on the roof.He soon found they knew little except the general story of the flood.They were all employees of the _News_. All had been at work in thebuilding when the flood overwhelmed the town on the previous evening.They had remained there because they believed they were safe in the bigsteel and stone structure. But reporters had managed to get abroad andbefore the telephone lines were all down they had telephoned in dozensof stories about the flood. Later some of them had made their way backto the _News_ building in a boat, with detailed stories of rescues,deaths and drownings, heroic acts, and the names of the flood victimswhose bodies had been recovered and identified. And now Jimmy had proofsof all their stories, together with all the tales he and Carl had pickedup, and their photographs and mental pictures of what was left ofNorthend.

  No wonder Jimmy wanted to be off with this treasure trove, when he saw acompetitor winging toward the town. Bidding farewell to the _News_editor, Jimmy and Carl carefully entered their boat, bailed it, andshoved off. The trip back was even harder than the journey out to the_News_ building, for now Jimmy had a great roll of mats to keep dry. Hewas forced to bail with one hand. It was difficult work to keep up withthe incoming water, but he toiled like a Trojan and almost kept up. Bythe time they reached the shore there must have been two inches of waterin the boat, but that meant nothing to either lad.

  Jimmy paid the farmer for the use of his boat. He delayed a little toask further questions about the flood, and picked up additionalincidents; for several people had joined the rescue group while he andCarl were gone. Just as Jimmy was starting for his ship, he saw that theother airplane was landing close to where his own ship stood. He delayedto see who the newcomer was. He was sorry enough he had waited, when thelatter stepped from his plane. It was Rand, a man who formerly workedfor the _Morning Press_ and who had been discharged by Mr. Johnsonbecause he utterly failed to solve the problem of the air mail bandits,whereas Jimmy had uncovered the whole story.

  Even before that event occurred, Rand had disliked Jimmy. But since Randhad been discharged by the _Morning Press_ he had hated Jimmy withmalignant intensity. He had done everything he could, at every turn, totrick and discredit him. And Jimmy knew well that the fellow wouldhardly
stop at anything to accomplish his purpose. Now Jimmy walkedbriskly by him, merely nodding. But Rand answered the nod with a cuttingoath.

  In a few minutes Jimmy and Carl hopped off for Berlin. Almost straightsouth they flew, with the Milan Hills on their right and theChickwolrepy Mountain on their left. It was no distance at all toBerlin. At least, it took almost no time at all to reach that city. ButJimmy had to circle several times before he was willing to land. Eventhen he was fearful of the result. For the only place that lookedpossible was the flat land along the river, and this had been underwater. Even yet there were little pools here and there in thedepressions. Jimmy was afraid his plane might bog down and nose over. Ifit did, that was the end of his flight--the flight that promised so muchfor him.

  For a moment he was tempted to go on, and mail the mats back from thenext town. But he had promised to put them in the hands of the Berlineditor. Jimmy always tried to make his word as good as his bond. So now,after studying the ground carefully, he picked out the most promisinglooking spot and came down in a long glide. Just as his ship was aboutto hit the ground, he gave her the gun for a second, to increase hermomentum, set her down on three points, and held his breath. The fieldwas not as wet as it looked, and the mud was only surface mud. His shiprolled safely to a stop.

  Jimmy was out of her in a flash. Throwing off his parachute, and leavingCarl to guard the plane, he hurried off with his mats. In no time hefound the editor of the Berlin paper, delivered the mats and themessage, and was back at his ship. But on the way he had stopped at agarage to engage some gasoline. Soon a tank wagon rolled up, and Jimmy'stanks were quickly filled. Then, waving good-bye to the circle ofadmiring small boys, Jimmy hopped off.

  A great, bald-faced, precipitous hill rose to the west of the town.Jimmy circled over the city, to gain altitude. Below him he noticed thegreat pulp mill and the enormous pile of pulp wood, that rose like alittle mountain close beside the river. The whole atmosphere wasredolent of the sulphur used in making paper.

  But Jimmy had little interest now in sightseeing. The instant he hadgained sufficient altitude, he darted away to the west, shot between thehills, and sped straight as an arrow to Lancaster, the nearest town onthe Connecticut.

  Then he banked to the left and with throttle opened wide went roaringdown the valley of that river, over the same route by which he had come.He dropped Carl at Springfield, after getting his promise that whenthings were straightened out at home Carl would come to New York tovisit him.

  Again he took off, and this time he did not come to earth again until helanded at his home field. A taxi once more took him to the _Press_office, where he delivered his news proofs and films to the city editor,then sat down and for a long time worked industriously at histypewriter, putting down on paper the description of what he had seenand learned at Northend.

  His trip back to Long Island was a pleasant one. Again he had been equalto the occasion. Once more he had made good. But there was one memory ofhis recent trip that left a bad taste in his mouth. That was the thoughtof Rand. On several occasions now he had gotten the better of thefellow. Each time Jimmy had triumphed over him, Rand had made his hatredmore evident, had tried meaner tricks to thwart Jimmy. But never beforehad Rand cursed him at sight or seemed so venomously hostile.

  "I'll have to watch him carefully," thought Jimmy. "He is vicious enoughto do most anything." And Jimmy was right, as coming events were toprove.