James R. Mears

“ Men were flitting about in the dim light of half a dozen electric globes distributed along the top of the trestle that loomed all of seventy-five feet above the water.
"There's a ship down there," cried Steve.
"Yes, and there's one on the other side," answered Bob. "Why, there are ships at all of the docks along here. Are you sure we have hit the right dock?"
"I am not sure of anything, except that we are likely to break our necks if we don't look sharp," answered Rush, with a laugh. "We will ask the first man we meet where the 'Wanderer' is. There comes some one now." ”

“ And so Steve Rush began as a watch officer on the Great Lakes. He proved that the confidence of his superiors was not misplaced, and for the rest of the season he remained on the "Richmond," distinguishing himself in many ways. Gus Collins, with his fresh start in life, had dropped his hang-dog expression. When he talked to a man, now, he looked that man squarely in the eye, and from the moment of his return to the ship he was a daily worshipper at the shrine of Steve Rush. ”

“ You can get into more trouble than any other fellow I ever knew."
"Never mind," laughed Steve. "We're the Iron Boys. Why shouldn't we travel as part of the iron ore cargo? The only thing that troubles me is that we have lost our ship. The 'Wanderer' will sail to-night with two men short, and—but I care more about what Mr. Carrhart will think when he hears that we missed our boat. He will think us a couple of stupid boys, and he will be justified in so thinking."
"I don't care what he thinks," growled Bob. ”

“ Just then the figure of a man was seen to leap from the top of the after deck-house into the raging sea.
Bob Jarvis had been clinging to a ladder that the chief engineer was holding up against the whistle pipe, the valve of the whistle having worked loose. The engineer had asked Bob to help him as a favor, which the lad was glad to do, though that was not his department. It was a ticklish position in which to work, and at any moment a lurch of the ship might throw the ladder over and throw the Iron Boy into the sea. ”

“ Bob Jarvis rolled over until he was practically standing on his head and shoulders. He toppled over on his back with a jolt that woke him up. The lad gave a kick and some one grunted.
"Hey, there, take your foot out of my stomach, whoever you are. Is that you, Bob?"
"I—I don't know. Hello, Steve, that you?"
"I guess it's both of us. Ugh! My mouth is so full of ore that I can hard—hardly talk."
"I've got a dark red taste in my own mouth. I've swallowed enough ore to make a steel rail. Do you know where we are?"
"We have fallen into the hold of a ship, and we are lucky that we are not dead." ”

“ The captain laughed heartily.
"Lights, my boy. Channels are lighted at night, so you can't go wrong; but a good navigator will take his ship through any place without a light to guide him. I want you boys to learn every one of the ranges——"
"What is a range?" interrupted Bob.
"Guide lights," spoke up Steve quickly. "They are the lights on shore, either lighthouses or buoys, to show you how to lay your course."
"That is the idea," agreed Captain Simms. "Let's hear you box the compass while we are here alone, Jarvis." ”

“ A cleat ladder extended up the side of the trestle to the top. Bob ran up it like a real sailor and rushed over the ties to the place where the train was being loaded for the furnaces.
In the meantime, Steve Rush had been hoisted to the top. He knew what was coming. The lad braced his feet and shoulders against opposite sides of the scoop, hoping thereby to hold himself in place. He had forgotten that the shell would open up at the proper moment in order to discharge its load—would open up so wide that not even a fragment of anything would be left within it. ”

“ FOUR long and two short blasts roared from the whistle of the "Richmond."
It was the private signal of Captain Simms. The ship was bearing down on Port Huron and was at that moment at the mouth of the St. Clair River. The skipper stepped to the door of the pilot-house with megaphone in hand.
"This is where I live," he explained. "My wife always comes out to see me as we pass. See the light there, in that cottage on the river bank? Well, that's where I live when I'm not steamboating. There she comes."
Through the moonlight Steve saw a woman running down to the edge of the water. ”

“ You are appointed foreman of the stoke-room of the ore carrier 'Richmond,' and you'll save more coal for the company than any other stoker who ever bossed a fire-room."
Collins sat down heavily. The tears were blinding his eyes. Steve did not try to stop them. He realized that they marked the turning point in what had been a hard life, a life that had bidden fair to be wholly wrecked in the name of justice. But what Steve Rush in his unselfishness did not realize, was that he had saved a human soul. ”

“ The ship sailed on. Now and then Steve's keen eyes would sight a green or red or a white light, and under the instruction of the mate he quickly learned to determine the position of the boat from her lights, enabling him to say instantly which way the other ship was traveling. After a while the captain entered the pilot-house.
"Who's on the forward watch?" he demanded.
"Rush on the bridge, Jarvis in the forward peak."
"Keep a sharp lookout. They are new men."
"Aye, aye, sir. Rush is all right. He has eyes like an owl at night. ”

“ CHAPTER XV AT THE WHEEL
"ISN'T she a beauty!" said Steve admiringly, as, with Jarvis and Captain Simms, he stood on the dock at the shipyards in Detroit, gazing up at the new steamer, the finest ship of her kind plying the lakes. ”

“ An hour later found Steve in his working clothes. The cranes for unloading were just being moved into place when he reached the deck. These were huge affairs, each provided with a giant scoop that gulped a little mouthful of some fifty tons of ore every time its iron jaws were opened.
There was a rattle and a bang as the hatch covers were being ripped off and cast to the far side of the deck; men on the trestles were shouting, [132] whistles were blowing in the harbor, gasoline launches conveying ship's officers to and from the other side of the inlet, were exhausting with vicious explosions. ”

“ His orders were carried out with a snap, and a moment later the dripping figure of Smith appeared above the level of the deck.
"You're a fine lot of lubbers," growled the stoker. "You let a man go overboard and then forget he's there. I ought to throw the bunch of you overboard."
"Take those boys to their cabins as soon as you get the water out of them," ordered Captain Simms.
"No, no; I'm all right," protested Steve, pulling himself together and staggering away from the men who were thumping him with their closed fists, hoping in that way to bring him back to himself. ”

“ A sailor ran panting up the stairs to the pilot-house.
"It's the little girl!" cried the sailor. "Your [193] daughter's overboard and Jarvis has gone after her. They'll both be drowned!"
"Port your helm a little," said the skipper in a calm, steady voice, as he turned to the wheelman. "Steady!"
Springing to the telephone he called up the after deck-house.
"Have boat Number 6 manned and swung out ready for launching. Have men stand by with life-lines and rings ready to cast if we come up with them. You stand by and watch out astern." ”

“ At last the coal was unloaded. After filling the tanks with water ballast, the "Richmond" started away for the northward to take on another cargo of ore and once more to drill down the Great Lakes.
The water ballast did not draw the ship down to its load level, with the result that she rolled considerably.
"The glass is falling," announced the captain as the craft swung into Lake Superior two days later. "I shouldn't be surprised if we had quite a jabble of a sea before night."
"We don't care, do we?" chirped Marie, to whom a rolling ship was a keen delight. ”

“ No sooner had the lad cleared the car than a load of ore was dumped on the spot where he had been standing but a few seconds before.
Bob grunted as the heavy body of Steve Rush landed full in his arms, causing the former to sit down heavily on the trestle with the dirt from the dumping shell, showering over them.
"Good for you, Bob! You saved my life. Let's get out of this place."
"I am perfectly agreeable to that. How do we get down?"
"There are two ways. One is to jump off and the other is to go down the ladder. ”

“ After backing down stream sufficiently to make passing safe, Captain Simms gave his whistle lever a jerk, sounding one sharp blast, meaning that he would meet and pass the other vessel on its port side.
The "Richmond" slipped by at a little higher speed than was safe, her sides scraping the paint off the other boat in spots.
"I ought to report you, you lubber!" roared Captain Simms in passing. "You ain't fit to command a mud scow. I've got a kid on this boat who's a better captain, after half a cruise, than you'll be if you cruise all your life." ”

“ Bob settled down against the side of the ship, moaning.
"Don't be a baby. Get up and be a man."
"I—I don't want to be a man. I—I'd rather be a wooden image, then I wouldn't care what happened. In case the ship went down I could float and——"
Bob's words were lost in an anguished moan. Steve felt far from comfortable, but he set his teeth and made a resolve not to give up. ”

“ The new stokers took their evening trick, each determined to hold up his end of the work with the rest of the men. And each did. Not a man in that hot, fiery pit shoveled more coal on that watch, or shoveled it to better advantage than did the Iron Boys.
The man Smith shoveled at the furnace door next to Steve Rush, and the former lost no opportunity to hurl rough jokes and taunts at the Iron Boy. ”

“ The ship is listing to port. They are taking too much out on that side. Jarvis, you run back and tell the engineer to have his electrician find out what is the matter with the lights in the hold. Look out for yourself, Rush, this time. I am beginning to think you are a hoodoo."
"And I am beginning to hold the same opinion," answered the Iron Boy.
"If you keep on we won't be able to get a sailor to ship on the same craft with you." ”

“ Bruin is having the rest of his breakfast now."
"Three cheers for Steve Rush," cried the captain, pulling off his cap.
"Hip-hip-hurrah!" yelled the sailors. "Hip-hip-hurrah! Hip-hip-hurrah! T-i-g-e-r!" added Bob Jarvis.
Steve came up from the lower deck, his face flushed with triumph.
"Well, we got him, didn't we?" he demanded.
"You mean you got him," answered the captain.
[232]
"We all got him."
"It is my opinion," added the skipper, "that you ought to be the captain of this boat. You've got more horse sense than all the rest of us together." ”

“ By this time Steve had leaped to his feet. Ahead of him, it seemed almost on top of them, loomed a great black hull. Lights [83] shone dimly through the heavy pall of fog. He understood without having to be told what had happened. The "Wanderer" had come into collision with another ship, presumably the same one whose lights the bridge watch had been watching off to starboard earlier in the evening. Even in the excitement of the moment Rush did not understand how this thing could have happened, if the other boat had held to the courses she was on when he last saw the other boat. ”

“ Where shall we find you, sir?" asked Rush.
"If I'm not in the wheel house I'll be somewhere else."
"I hope you won't take it into your head to meet us in the hold," interjected Jarvis. "We have had hold enough to hold us for the rest of our lives."
"Don't get smart, young man," snapped the master, turning and leaving the room.
"I wouldn't get funny with the captain, were I in your place," warned Steve. "He evidently doesn't appreciate your jokes. Smell that breakfast?" ”

“ On either side of the inlet loomed the dark trestles, from some of which the rattle and roar of unloading machinery arose in a deafening chorus.
"This is about all a man's life is worth to face," decided Steve, as he dodged a swiftly moving car that towered above him loaded with ore. Then he narrowly missed being ground under a traveling crane that was in operation unloading a ship.
"Can you tell me, sir, if the 'Wanderer' has arrived?" asked the boy of a yard policeman who approached the lad to find out what he was doing there.
"She's outside the harbor now. ”

“ In the great steel mills the boys were to work among the roaring furnaces, the swiftly moving cranes and the moulding mills, where the metal that they had helped to mine ran in rivers that turned into gold. ”

“ It isn't a comfortable feeling to have the floor rolling around beneath one's feet, but I am getting so that I do not mind it much. Is that a boat ahead of us there?"
"Yes," replied the captain, placing the glasses to his eyes. "It's a pig, and she's having a pretty hard time of it. All you can see of her is a smother of foam in the place where the ship is. The smoke from her funnel seems to come right out of the lake."
"Are those whalebacks safe, Captain?" asked the pilot.
"Yes. I commanded one for two seasons. They are perfectly safe, so long as nothing happens to them."
Steve laughed. ”