The Iron Boys in the Mines; or, Starting at the Bottom of the Shaft

by Frank V. Webster

  CHAPTER VIII

  BOB MAKES GOOD HIS WORD

  "The superintendent wishes to see you at his office when convenient."

  This message was brought to Steve Rush at his boarding house on the dayfollowing the accident in the drift. The lad's wounds had been treated,and he had been allowed to go home late in the afternoon of the sameday. The powder-man, however, had been much more seriously injured. Itwas doubtful if the man ever would be able to work in the mines again.

  Steve would have returned to work on the following morning, had thesuperintendent not given orders that he was not to do so, and thesuperintendent's orders were law in the mines.

  The lad was somewhat surprised at the summons. However, he lost no timein going over to the offices. The superintendent was out at the momentand Rush was ushered into the handsome private office, where he was toldto wait. Steve gazed about him, nodding thoughtfully.

  "One of these days I shall have an office like this," he thought aloud."Some day, in the distant future, I shall be a superintendent, too."

  "So you want to be a superintendent, eh?"

  The boy turned to find himself looking into the smiling face of Mr.Penton. Steve's face flushed rosy red.

  "I--I guess I must have been thinking out loud, sir."

  "Your ambition is a worthy one. Keep on in the way you are going andpromotion is sure. You are now a part of one of the greatest games inthe industrial world. Realize this and you have made a long strideforward. How are you feeling to-day?"

  "I do realize it, sir, and I am proud of the very small part I amplaying in that world. In answer to your question, I am feelingperfectly well to-day; I am ready for work."

  "To-morrow will be time enough. Take the day off. Your pay will go onjust the same. In this connection there is another little matter that Ihave sent for you to adjust. You are not of age?"

  "Oh, no, sir."

  "I will state what I have to say, just the same. It is customary, whenone has been hurt in the mines, to have our claim adjuster call upon himat proper time and make such settlement as can be agreed upon, afterwhich the injured party signs a release. I have prepared a release herewith the amount left blank. You have done a very brave act; I amwilling to do what is right in the matter. To what extent do you thinkyou have been damaged, Rush?"

  There was a quizzical look in the eyes of the superintendent as he askedthe question.

  "Have you the release?"

  Mr. Penton handed a paper to the boy. The latter read it throughcarefully, then asking for a pen, drew a line through the space leftblank for the amount and signed his name.

  "I am not that kind of man, Mr. Penton," said Steve. "If you wish mymother's signature to the paper, I will have her sign it. I do not careto receive any money that I have not earned."

  "Rush," said the superintendent, rising and placing a hand on the boy'sshoulder, "you talk like a true man. You _are_ a true man. It is notyour refusal of the money that causes me to say that, but the principlethat prompted the refusal. I felt that you would act as you have done. Isee I was not mistaken in you. You will get on. No boy with your spiritcould help getting on. Do you wish to be transferred from Spooner'sshift to one not so hard?"

  "No, sir; I am not looking for an easy job. I am looking for hard workand to learn everything there is to learn in this great industry. When Ihave earned promotion I want it."

  "And you shall have it. Finish the week in level seventeen and I'll seewhat can be done for you in some other direction. Do you think you willbe able to work to-morrow?"

  "Oh, yes, sir."

  Mr. Penton shook hands with him and the lad departed, light hearted andhappy. He did not waste the time that he was resting--not Steve. Insteadhe went directly back to the works, remaining all day in the vicinity ofthe shaft watching the progress of the work and asking questionswhenever he could find anyone willing to answer them. He visited the dryhouses, where the miners changed their clothes and took their showerbaths, a clean, comfortable building provided with numbered lockers forthe street clothes of the employes of the company, and where those whochose might eat their lunches in the cold weather.

  Steve learned a lesson that he did not forget. He learned it from theold pensioner in charge of the dry houses.

  "Make your men comfortable, look out for their safety and you will getfully a third more work out of them," said the old attendant. And thiswas the principle on which the company acted.

  The day passed quickly, and Steve went early to bed, in order to be upearly on the following morning. This time he took no chances of gettinglost in the mine. He followed one of the trammers who worked in his partof the mine, and reached Spooner's contract some fifteen minutes beforethe hour for beginning work. The contractor liked to have his men on thejob early, and when he could drive them into doing so, he managed to getten minutes or so extra work out of them before the whistle on the levelblew the signal to begin work.

  Steve smiled good-naturedly when Spooner ordered him to get in and beginshoveling. The lad was not averse to doing so. All evidences of theaccident had been removed and once more the drift was open and workable.A new powder-man had taken the place of the injured man, a quiet,self-contained young fellow on whom Spooner's bulldozing tactics had noeffect.

  "See here, boy, how about that shovel?" demanded the contractor, afterthe lad had been working a short time.

  "What do you mean, sir?"

  "I mean the shovel you banged up hammering on the drift to make ushear."

  Rush looked puzzled.

  "What about it, sir?"

  "Shovels cost money. I have to furnish the tools on my job. I'll expectyou to pay for that one. Got any money with you?"

  "No, sir."

  "Well, see that you bring it to-morrow. The shovel's worth a dollar."

  "Yes, sir. I will speak to the superintendent about it, and if he saysit is proper for me to pay you I will do so," replied the lad wisely.

  "Speak to the superintendent?" shouted the contractor. "You'll donothing of the sort. I'm running my business; the super isn't. If youtry that game on me I'll fire you. You don't have to pay for the shovelif you don't want to. But you're a cheat if you don't."

  "I am not a cheat," protested Steve indignantly. "As I said before, ifthe superintendent says I ought to pay you, I shall do so gladly. Youcan fire me if you wish to. I am not so much in love with numberseventeen that I would shed tears were I ordered out of it."

  The contractor glared, started to speak, then gaining control ofhimself, turned and walked away. Rush, in the meantime, wasenergetically throwing dirt and when the long day was ended he hadshoveled into ore cars ten tons of soft ore. The lad handed his tallyslip to the contractor at the close of the day's work.

  Spooner uttered a grunt of disapproval.

  "Only ten tons!" he groaned. "You'll have to do better than that. Unlessyou can handle twelve you're not fit to be below ground."

  "I understand, sir, that twelve tons a day is the record and that onlyone man has accomplished that in the last ten years," answered the boypromptly. "But I'll equal it before I am through here; not especially togratify you, but for my own satisfaction."

  Mr. Spooner had no more to say.

  "How many tons a day does he get out of this contract?" asked Steve, ashe was waiting for the cage to ascend to the surface.

  "Fifty tons is the most we ever got out in a day," was the answer fromSteve's companion.

  "How much does he get a ton?"

  "That we don't know. He never tells his business. Some contractors getless and some more, depending upon how the ore runs, how much paint rockthere is to be thrown out in the dirt."

  "Do the others run about the same?"

  "I reckon they do."

  Steve was always seeking for information, and what he was learning inthese early days was to serve him well in the future.

  For the rest of the week he worked diligently, increasing his dailyoutput by at least a ton. One day he fell considerably below this, as
the ore came out hard and was not delivered to the car men as fast asthey could handle it. That was a day that Spooner was at his worst.

  Saturday came, the day that the young miner was to receive his first payenvelope. He had made it a practice to carry his lunch below and eat itthere. This saved him considerable effort, and gave him an opportunityto rest before the whistles blew to resume work. Steve usually chosesome quiet spot in an unused drift, where, seating himself by the sideof a little stream of water trickling from the rocks, he would stick hiscandle-holder in a crevice and tuck the cover of his dinner pail underthe trickling stream to catch water to drink with his meal.

  He had just settled himself down for his noon-day meal, on this Saturdayafternoon, when he was attracted by a bobbing candle on a miner's capapproaching him from down the drift just off the main level.

  "Now, I wonder what he wants?" mused Rush, peering out curiously. "Ibelieve that's Bob Jarvis. He is probably coming in here to eat hisdinner. He'll be surprised to find me here. Hello, Bob."

  "Hello yourself."

  "I just did. Sit down and have lunch with me."

  "I ain't lunching to-day. I----"

  "Eat some of mine if you haven't yours with you. There is enough forboth of us in my pail, and here is some of the finest water you everdrank. It's colder than any ice water I ever tasted."

  Bob did not reply. He was standing over Steve, peering down at thelatter with a steady gaze. Presently Rush noticed that Jarvis was actingpeculiarly. There was a constraint in his manner that Steve had neverseen there before.

  "What's the matter? Anything gone wrong, Bob?"

  "No; nothing has gone wrong. Something's going that way pretty soon,though."

  "What do you mean?"

  "I promised you a licking, didn't I?"

  "I believe you did, but that is all past now. You saved me from thedrift. I shan't forget that, old fellow. I hope I get a chance to do youa good turn one of these days."

  "You're going to get it now."

  "I am going to get what?"

  "The licking."

  Steve rose slowly to his feet after carefully placing his dinner pail toone side.

  "Do you mean you want to fight me after having saved my life, BobJarvis?"

  "That's what!"

  Rush gazed steadily at his companion of the moment. The taller boy hadassumed a pugnacious attitude.

  "I don't want to fight you, Bob."

  "Then you'll stand for a coward; you'll be a 'missie' for certain."

  Steve began slowly to strip off his oilskins. His blouse and flannelshirt came next. These removed, he stuck his candlestick in a crevice inthe rocks high enough up to shed a fairly good light over the drift.

  "How'll you have it?" he asked coolly.

  "No hitting below the belt; hammer in the clinches when we can. All fairand above board," answered Jarvis, making himself ready for the fray.

  "Very well," replied Steve. "I am ready whenever you are."