The Iron Boys in the Steel Mills; or, Beginning Anew in the Cinder Pits

  CHAPTER XV

  MENACED BY A DOUBLE PERIL

  "Look out!" roared the warning voice of the head melter.

  Steve turned just in time to see a wall of golden metal almost toweringover him. Even his quick mind did not grasp the meaning of the sceneuntil it was too late. His muscles refused to obey his command, and foronce in his life the Iron Boy stood with a sensation in his heart thatwas not far removed from fear. He did not know which way to turn forsafety, even had he possessed the strength to escape from his perilousposition.

  Yells and shouts of warning from all sides merely served to confuse himthe more. Had it been daylight Rush no doubt would have quickly thrownhimself to one side.

  Suddenly something came whirling through the air. The Iron Boy did notsee it, and it is doubtful if more than one man about the furnace did.It was a dark object, and it smote Steve across the chest with terrificforce.

  The Iron Boy staggered backward, toppled over just as the molten floodfrom the furnace went hissing past. The boy did not stop there. Hisbody began rolling down the incline leading to the jumping-off place,below which the tracks were located. His body shot over ahead of themetal, for that had to follow a circuitous course. There was littledanger of its overtaking him, as a dam at the lower end was intended tocheck its flow until the train had backed in with the ladles to receivethe ore. This train, as it chanced, was at the moment backing down tothe furnace at high speed, for the train was late and the tapping of thefurnace, the engineer knew, could not be delayed without perhaps doinggreat damage to the metal.

  Bob Jarvis, from his perch high in the air, had caught sight of thescene that was being enacted below as a draught of air tore aside thecurtain of smoke that during the evening had blotted out the lower endof the furnace. Forgetful of his duty up there Bob sprang to the ladder.He did not wait for the hot rungs this time; but, grasping the sides ofthe iron ladder, shoes on the outside pressed tight against theuprights, he dropped out of sight of the charging platform like a stone.The rapid descent was burning the skin from his palms and an odor ofburning leather reached his nose faintly as the iron sides of theladders burned through the shoes pressed against it.

  Bob landed with a jolt. He dropped to the furnace floor, but was up ina twinkling. Leaping the saffron river he bolted across the interveningspace and sprang straight out into the air, right in the face of theapproaching train of flat cars thundering in.

  There was a ten-foot drop to the ground. Jarvis did not know whether hewas going to land in a pit of hot ore, cinders, or on a fence of ironthat would end his career right there.

  By the light from the opened furnace, as he was falling, he saw thetracks below him and the form of Steve Rush lying stretched across them.Bob saw something else too--the long line of flat cars swooping down onSteve.

  Jarvis landed on all fours. He did not waste time in glancing about tosee where the train was. Instead, he grabbed Rush, pitching him headlongout of the way. Steve landed on his head, pivoted for a second, and thenfell over on his back.

  Jarvis straightened up and started to leap clear of the track when hewas struck a terrific blow from behind. The force of the blow lifted theboy from the tracks. As everything about him began to grow black he felthimself being hurled through the air.

  There was no time to shout, nor opportunity to help himself. Bob hadbeen struck by the train, the end beam of the leading car having caughthim squarely across the hips. Bob landed some ten feet beyond the spotwhere Steve was lying. The latter, however, had been barely stunned.About the time Bob went soaring over his head, Rush scrambled to hisfeet and hands then got up limping a little.

  But Steve was dazed. The glare of the intense light from the openfurnace blinded his eyes so that he could not see a thing distinctly. Heheard the shrill shriek of the shifting engine, then four quick, warningblasts. The Iron Boy ducked instinctively at the same time leaping toone side.

  By this time objects began to grow out of the glare with more or lessdistinctness. Steve rubbed his eyes and blinked.

  "I wonder what happened? I know--I got an awful rap from something."

  His arms ached and his chest was so sore that the touch of his clothesgave him pain. About that time Rush discovered that raising his arms wasattended with more or less pain also.

  "Hello! Something is going on over there by the furnace. Now what in theworld has happened? If Kalinski were anywhere about I should think hehad been trying some of his tricks on me again."

  Kalinski was not there, but three men who had climbed down from thebrick and steel platform about the furnace came running around the lowerend, heading for the spot where the Iron Boy was standing.

  "Hi, whom are you looking for?" Steve called.

  "Hello, who's that?" answered a voice.

  "It's Rush. I'm all right. Something must have hit me and knocked me offthe platform."

  "I guess something did hit you," answered a voice that Steve recognizedas belonging to the head melter, Pig-Iron Peel. "Where is the otherboy?"

  "What other boy?"

  "Jarvis?"

  "Why, he's up at the top of the furnace on the charging platform."

  "Not much he ain't!" answered Peel. "He's down here, somewhere."

  "Down here?" wondered Rush.

  "Yes."

  "How did he get down here?"

  "He came over after you. Never saw such a quick move in my life. What'sbothering me is how he ever got down the ladder soon enough to get you.He saved your life all right, boy."

  "Hello, Bob!" shouted Steve, realizing all at once that something morehad occurred than he knew about. "Bob!"

  "Hello," answered a faint voice off in the darkness of the yard.

  Rush darted forward, followed by the head melter and his two companions.

  "Where are you, Bob?"

  "I'm here--what's left of me, and that isn't much."

  They found Bob on his knees, gingerly rubbing the injured portion of hisanatomy.

  "Are you hurt?" begged Steve solicitously.

  "Hurt? Why, I'll never be able to walk again as long as I live! I'llhave to sit around all the rest of my life."

  Bob's companion was helping him to his feet, bringing groans of painfrom the unfortunate Jarvis.

  "Don't touch my hands; they're skinned. Oh, what a fool I am! Let mealone; don't you see I'm skinned alive?"

  With Steve on one side of him, and Pig-Iron Peel on the other, Jarviswas led over to the stairs that extended up to the platform.

  "Will you please tell me what happened to you?" demanded Steve.

  "Ask the boss. I don't know. I think I must have been kicked bysomething. Are there any mules in the yards."

  "No; no mules," replied Peel. "You were hit by a train."

  "You don't mean it? I'll bet the train was wrecked! Nothing--no traincould hit an object with the force that I was hit and not be bucked offthe track. That's so; I remember, now, I was getting you off the trackwhen I was struck."

  "Yes; you would have been run over and killed on the spot if Jarvishadn't got you when he did. How did you get down from the chargingplatform?" demanded the melter, turning to Bob.

  "I shot the chutes and it was the hottest shoot I ever took. Look at myhands."

  "So I fell on the track, did I?" questioned Rush.

  "Yes."

  "How did I happen to do that?"

  "You fell over the edge right in front of the train."

  "Yes, but something hit me and knocked me over. I remember getting awhack something like that described by Bob, only I wasn't struck in thesame place."

  "I hit you," spoke up the head melter.

  "You did?"

  "Yes. There wouldn't have been so much as a grease spot left of you, bythis time, if I hadn't."

  "What did you hit me with?"

  "I threw the dolly at you, and it did the business. It knocked you plumbover on your back. The cast was right on top of you when I let go thedolly. You know the rest."

  "Then you saved my life, t
oo, Mr. Peel?"

  "Well, something of that sort," grinned the head-melter.

  "We're both entitled to hero medals, you see," added Bob.

  "Thank you; I owe you both one for that. Well, Mr. Peel I am ready to goto work. How about you, Bob?"

  Jarvis glanced up to where the ladder disappeared in the veil of smokehigh above them.

  "If I had an elevator I'd be all right, but I'll try it."

  "You need not go up if you don't feel like it," said the melter. "I willsend one of the furnace men up to finish your trick, if you wish."

  "No, I'll go myself. There won't be any trouble about getting down. Ican fall down, but the difficulty will be in climbing that ladder withthe skin all off my hands. Say, those rungs are hot. Why don't you coolthem off?"

  "We'll play the hose on you while you are going up if you want."

  "You'd better not, if you know what is good for you. If you even breatheon me I'll fall off. Well, here goes!"

  Rush, followed his companion to the foot of the ladder.

  "Are you sure you are all right, Bob?" he asked anxiously.

  "No; I am not all right, but I'm right enough to beat this game. I can'tdo any more than break my neck, and I guess that isn't breakable. Wehave had our initiation ceremonies; now maybe we'll go along for a timewithout anything happening. Here goes!"

  Bob, with evident effort, began climbing. Once he seemed to lose hisgrip and Steve, believing he was going to fall, started to run up theladder.

  "Quit that!" howled Jarvis, feeling the vibration on the ladder. "Whatare you trying to do--throw me off?"

  "I thought perhaps you needed some help."

  "I'll tell you when I do. What I want most just now is to be let alone."

  Rush stepped back to the platform, but he remained standing there untilfinally Jarvis disappeared in the cloud of smoke and gas up near the topof the blast furnace. Then he turned back to the furnace work.

  "What next, Mr. Peel?" he asked.

  "Well, if you think you can get out of the way quick enough, you canbegin to patch up the gutters again."

  The hot metal train had long since pulled away over the bridge, on itsway to the mills, where the ingots would either be rolled in their crudestate or placed in the open-hearth furnaces to be transformed intoingots of steel.

  "I guess I can keep out of the way, now that I know what to keep out ofthe way of."

  "I'll put you on the dolly to-morrow, and make a monkey-man of you. Ifyou don't get incinerated we'll make a real man of you."

  "Thank you."

  Peel did not know whether the remark was intended to be sarcastic ornot, and Steve's impassive face gave him no clue to the truth.

  For the rest of the night each of the Iron Boys labored faithfully, andthat morning, the moment they struck their beds, they instantly fellinto the deathlike sleep of the laborer in the steel mills.