James R. Mears

“ Mr. Keating was a man well past middle age. His hair was gray, his bristling mustache of the same shade, gray, twinkling eyes adding greatly to the general effect of the face. But it was the square-set jaw and the firm set of the lips that revealed the iron in the make up of the superintendent. All this Steve Rush saw at a glance and understood.
[25]
"Perhaps I should not have been quite so outspoken," admitted the lad. "That is a fault of mine."
"That is not always a fault. Most honest men are outspoken, my lad. ”

“ As for Bob Jarvis, he had not been seen since the black column had lifted him from the floor.
Young Brodsky grasped the outstretched hands and began tugging with all his might. All his efforts were unavailing. Steve was being buried deeper and deeper every second.
"Hang on—I get somebody!" exclaimed Ignatz, darting away through the black cloud.
Kalinski, now running here and there, apparently very much upset over the disaster, was the first man the Pole met.
"Come quick!" he demanded, breathing hard.
"What do you want?" snarled Watski.
"The pit! There's a man in there and he can't get out!" ”

“ The messenger, after entering with Rush, opened a door leading into a large office, and shoved Steve in.
A sandy-haired, rugged-faced man sat at a desk, while around the room were several men from the shops. Among them were Bill Foley and Watski Kalinski. The latter grinned when he saw Steve.
"What's your name?" demanded the man at the desk gruffly.
"Stephen Rush."
Steve's face was so coated with grime that it was unrecognizable, even to one who knew him well, which the superintendent did not.
"A man named Jarvis is your side partner, isn't he?" ”

“ Steve gave the Pole a shove, Kalinski hurrying away as fast as his weakened legs would carry him, the fellow uttering threats and shaking his fists as he went.
"We will go home now," announced Steve. "You come with us, Ignatz," he added, taking an arm of the Polish boy. "I am sorry this thing happened, for I had hoped we should be able to keep out of further trouble. We will get a bad name if we don't stop having so many rows."
"But how are we going to help it?" protested Bob. "I can't stand around and see a boy abused by a big brute like Kalinski, without taking a hand." ”

“ Hissing and snapping the molten metal burned its way along through the sand-packed gutters, and shot from the ends of the gutters and into the waiting ladles on the flat cars at the foot of the platform. Everywhere the air seemed filled with fiery shapes reaching for human prey. Under foot there was danger on every hand, for a single misstep would plunge one into this all-consuming flood. The slag, or as much of it as possible, ground its way much more slowly, along another channel, to be gathered up and used over for other purposes at some later day. ”

“ By this time Kalinski was getting slower in his movements, and the strong fists of the Iron Boy were beating a tattoo on the pit boss's face and ribs. The crowd, seeing that Kalinski was getting the worst of it, set up yells of disapproval.
"Throw him out! Put him in the river!"
With one common purpose the idlers surged forward. At that moment some one began pushing and elbowing through the crowd. Then Steve Rush strode into the ring where the man and the boy were battling for a finish. ”

“ The furnace men, especially those on the tapping job, would be likely to get the full charge in their faces.
"Clank, clank, clank!" sounded the steel mall as it beat against the end of the bar held by Steve.
"Tap lighter," ordered the boy.
The sound of the blows grew fainter.
"That will do. We can poke out the opening after we step to one side. We shall then——"
"Bang!"
The mall struck the end of the dolly a terrific blow. The bar was driven through the thin shell of dolmite right into the hot metal of the furnace. ”

“ They found Bob on his knees, gingerly rubbing the injured portion of his anatomy.
"Are you hurt?" begged Steve solicitously.
"Hurt? Why, I'll never be able to walk again as long as I live! I'll have to sit around all the rest of my life."
Bob's companion was helping him to his feet, bringing groans of pain from the unfortunate Jarvis.
"Don't touch my hands; they're skinned. Oh, what a fool I am! Let me alone; don't you see I'm skinned alive?"
With Steve on one side of him, and Pig-Iron Peel on the other, Jarvis was led over to the stairs that extended up to the platform. ”

“ Four hours would elapse before another cast would be made from number four furnace, but here and there along the row of huge cones stars were bursting, streams of hot, yellow lava flowing and men shouting, snarling or begging for water.
"It is terrible, yet grand!" exclaimed Steve [147] Rush, wiping the perspiration from his brow. Even where they stood, at one side of the furnace, the heat was well-nigh unbearable.
"It strikes me as being grandly hot," answered Jarvis. "Whew, a fellow doesn't need his winter underclothing on in this job, does he?" ”

“ Watski chuckled. He walked over to where Bob and Steve stood waiting for orders to go to work, surveying them from his beady, red eyes; beady because nature had made them so, red from the heat and the cinders of years in the mills. ”

“ The head melter, standing close up against the furnace, clad in a rubber coat and wearing green goggles, was peering into the furnace through a peep hole, while a stream of water from a hose was constantly played over his body. His face seemed to rest almost against the plates, and the bosh on which he was standing was so hot that the steam rose in a cloud about him.
Two men were inserting the prodding rod against the dolmite that plugged the ore hole near the bottom of the furnace. The perspiration was running in rivers down their half-naked bodies. ”

“ REVERBERATING crashes rent the air. Workmen in that part of the mill were hurled violently to the ground. Yells and cries were heard on all sides. The interior of the mill was full of flying debris.
Bob Jarvis had put too much water on the pit. The sudden contraction, down deep among the hot slag and cinders, had caused a tremendous explosion, wreaking disaster for many feet on either side of the pit. Kalinski, in all probability, knew what would happen when he gave Jarvis permission to soak down the cinders, and no doubt that was why the boss made such haste to get away from the spot. ”

“ Steve was watching the process interestedly.
"I wonder why he doesn't turn the water in full force?" mused the boy. He would not ask questions of the surly Pole, preferring to pick up what he could by observation. Bob had sat down on the floor, where he examined his burned clothes ruefully, at the same time gently rubbing the blistered spots on his skin.
"I wish I dared throw that animal into the pit head first," muttered Jarvis, eyeing the pit boss resentfully. "I wonder why they have such a beast at the head of anything." ”

“ During a lull in the work Steve was asking questions [176] about the operation of the blast furnace. He learned from the head melter that two tons of ore, as it came from the mines, smelted down to one ton of pig; that unless the ingredients were exactly right and the boiling done just right, thousands of tons might be spoiled in casting.
"You have to go by instinct largely," said Pig-Iron Peel. "You can't lay down any hard and fast rule. The only way is to taste of the metal and then you know when it's done to a turn." ”

“ Jarvis gave him an awful whaling, you know."
Rush raised his voice so that Kalinski could not help hearing every word this time.
"He did, eh?"
"Yes."
"Is Jarvis much of a scrapper?"
"He is a whirlwind."
"Good for him! I'll get him off the charging platform and give him something better down here," said the head melter, as he nodded approvingly over what Steve had told him.
"That's the kind of a boy for me. No, I don't mean because he fights. I got no use for a brawler, but because he can be a man when he gets up against the real thing. ”

“ The hot metal train had long since pulled away over the bridge, on its way to the mills, where the ingots would either be rolled in their crude state or placed in the open-hearth furnaces to be transformed into ingots of steel.
"I guess I can keep out of the way, now that I know what to keep out of the way of."
"I'll put you on the dolly to-morrow, and make a monkey-man of you. If you don't get incinerated we'll make a real man of you." ”

“ The foremost of the Iron and Steel Police made a grab for the fleeing lad, catching and whirling the boy around, facing in the opposite direction.
"Let go of me!"
A firmer grip was the answer. Rush made a quick turn. His right arm was thrust forcibly against the neck of the policeman, followed by a sudden kick on the shins. The policeman fell flat on the cinder-covered ground. ”

“ Bob obeyed reluctantly. He limped a little as he walked toward the cinder pit, for his legs pained him and there were blisters on his feet where the hot cinders and slag had burned through the shoes. Besides, he felt that he had not done his duty.
"Did you hear Watski give you the lie, Steve?"
"Yes, I heard," answered Rush, beginning to throw out cinders again. "He isn't worth bothering with. Let him alone. We cannot afford to have any fights at the beginning. I was in hopes things would run along smoothly."
Foley leaned over the edge of the pit. ”

“ Bob gazed at his companion in surprise. Steve had never spoken to him in that tone before, so Jarvis kept still for a time as they went on across the yards, over the hot metal bridge and to the lower exit from the yards. As they were passing out they met Ignatz Brodsky coming in. The Pole stopped short, peering into the face of Steve Rush.
"What the matter with you?"
"Nothing is the matter with me, Ignatz," answered Steve, by this time in better control of himself. "I am a little tired—that's all."
"You stay by the house to-night. You no go to the furnace; you go by the graveyard by and by." ”

“ You must admit, gentlemen, that Rush's viewpoint is somewhat unusual these days. How much is he earning, Keating?"
"His wages are a dollar a day."
"Then promote him at once."
"I have offered to, but he doesn't want it. He is working his way up, and desires to follow the same course that any one does in going through the mills. Mr. Carrhart is responsible for his being here. He takes a very keen interest in both boys."
"Oh, he does, eh?"
"Yes, sir. The young men are not in want. Each of them own several thousand dollars worth of stock in this company." ”

“ The boy, with arms and legs wrapped around the guy wire, had shot down from the top of the stove. He was angry all through, more angry than scared or even hurt.
"What kind of a game is it, I say?"
Rush and Pig-Iron were too busy picking themselves up from the floor where Jarvis's bump had landed them, to make reply.
"What's the matter with you fellows? Did I bowl you over? Well, it serves you right if I did."
"Bob," laughed Steve getting to his feet, "I knew nothing could do you up. You're too tough to be very badly hurt. What happened to you up there?" ”

“ He's true-blue, Bob. Under all his stolidness he is every inch a man, as I have said many times before. He is more cut up over our hard luck than we are. I hope he doesn't try to induce Kalinski to take us back. That would please the pit boss, because he would think we had asked Ignatz to intercede for us. I would rather never have a job again than to ask either of those three men to take us back. ”

“ Only the strongest could survive, and Mr. Keating, despite the athletic appearance of the Iron Boys, did not believe they possessed the endurance to stand up under the strain of work in the mills.
That was where he underrated the staying qualities of Bob and Steve. They had been placed in the accident department, where they had distinguished themselves almost at once. No such clear and thorough reports had ever been made of accidents in the mills as had been turned in by Steve Rush and Bob Jarvis. But Steve was not satisfied. ”

“ It is my plan to make each of you a foreman, and to let you arrange the work to the best advantage. How will you work it?"
"Work from opposite sides of the river," answered Steve. "Jarvis on one side and myself on the other. While the men are building the abutment in the middle of the river we can be running the line to the furnaces and to the gas engine house on the other side. In the meantime your experts can be making the connections at each end, so that there shall be no loss of time at any given point."
"Fine, fine!" nodded Mr. Phillips. "That is a most excellent plan. ”

“ We do not make threats; that is, not until afterwards, perhaps," answered the lad significantly.
"Don't you think it would be a pretty good idea for you men to get to work?" demanded Foley. "You won't last long at this rate."
[39]
"If you can fix that pit so it will not burn the skin from our legs we will go to work."
"That's up to you."
"Then I will see what I can do. I hope the Honorable Mr. Watski Kalinski will keep away, even if he is our boss."
"Yes, he'd better keep his distance from me," growled Bob, who had been growing angrier as he gazed at the grinning pit boss. ”

“ The latter two had drawn back some little distance, where Kalinski was gesticulating and talking to Foley with considerable emphasis.
In a little while the shovelers had gotten down to where the pit was aglow with coals. The plank beneath their feet began to blaze up, the smoke getting into their mouths and noses, setting the lads to sneezing.
"I am going to get out of here," announced Bob. "This is worse than the stoke-hole."
"Oh, pshaw, it isn't nearly so hot, though it is about as dirty. I know, though, that the men do not work in a pit as hot as this one is. ”