The Iron Boys in the Mines Part 12

"I thought you would," answered the superintendent dryly.

In the meantime the powder-man had been conveyed to the surface and removed to the hospital in the superintendent's carriage, the driver having received orders to return at once.

"Do you feel able to walk, Rush?" questioned the executive.

"Ye--yes, sir; I--I think so, sir."

"I'll help him," spoke up Bob Jarvis quickly.

"Yes; help him to the cage and go up with him."

Steve found that he was weaker than he thought, but leaning on Bob's strong arm he made his way to the lower level, where the lads caught the cage a few moments later and were conveyed to the surface.

"I'll not forget this, Jarvis," murmured Steve.

"Forget what?"

"Your kindness to me."

"I'm kind to you for another reason. I'll see you later. When you get well I'll have something to say to you, Miss Hurry-up," was Bob's parting shot, as he lifted the lad into the carriage and turned back to the shaft to return to his work below ground.

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 day following 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 same day. The powder-man, however, had been much more seriously injured. It was 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 the superintendent not given orders that he was not to do so, and the superintendent's orders were law in the mines.

The lad was somewhat surprised at the summons. However, he lost no time in going over to the offices. The superintendent was out at the moment and Rush was ushered into the handsome private office, where he was told to 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 and promotion is sure. You are now a part of one of the greatest games in the industrial world. Realize this and you have made a long stride forward. How are you feeling to-day?"

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

"To-morrow will be time enough. Take the day off. Your pay will go on just the same. In this connection there is another little matter that I have 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, when one has been hurt in the mines, to have our claim adjuster call upon him at proper time and make such settlement as can be agreed upon, after which the injured party signs a release. I have prepared a release here with the amount left blank. You have done a very brave act; I am willing to do what is right in the matter. To what extent do you think you have been damaged, Rush?"

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

"Have you the release?"

Mr. Penton handed a paper to the boy. The latter read it through carefully, then asking for a pen, drew a line through the s.p.a.ce left blank for the amount and signed his name.

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

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

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

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

"Oh, yes, sir."

Mr. Penton shook hands with him and the lad departed, light hearted and happy. He did not waste the time that he was resting--not Steve. Instead he went directly back to the works, remaining all day in the vicinity of the shaft watching the progress of the work and asking questions whenever he could find anyone willing to answer them. He visited the dry houses, where the miners changed their clothes and took their shower baths, a clean, comfortable building provided with numbered lockers for the street clothes of the employes of the company, and where those who chose might eat their lunches in the cold weather.

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

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

The day pa.s.sed quickly, and Steve went early to bed, in order to be up early on the following morning. This time he took no chances of getting lost in the mine. He followed one of the trammers who worked in his part of the mine, and reached Spooner's contract some fifteen minutes before the hour for beginning work. The contractor liked to have his men on the job early, and when he could drive them into doing so, he managed to get ten minutes or so extra work out of them before the whistle on the level blew the signal to begin work.

Steve smiled good-naturedly when Spooner ordered him to get in and begin shoveling. The lad was not averse to doing so. All evidences of the accident 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 no effect.

"See here, boy, how about that shovel?" demanded the contractor, after the 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 us hear."

Rush looked puzzled.

"What about it, sir?"

"Shovels cost money. I have to furnish the tools on my job. I'll expect you 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."