Guilt of the Brass Thieves

  CHAPTER 7 _NIGHT SHIFT WORKER_

  "I detest a stool pigeon," said Mr. Gandiss after Joe the Sweeper hadslouched away. "However, his information may be valuable. I can't affordnot to investigate it."

  Not wishing to attract comment from the other employes, the factory ownermade no attempt to see the girl under suspicion. Instead, he escorted theparty to his private office. Ringing a buzzer, he asked one of theforemen to bring the operator of Machine 567 to him.

  Presently she came in, a thin, wiry girl in ill-fitting blue slacks andsweater. Her hair was bound beneath a dark net and she wore goggles. Asshe faced Mr. Gandiss, she removed the latter. Everyone stared.

  For the girl was Sally Barker.

  "You sent for me, Mr. Gandiss?" Subdued and embarrassed, her eyes rovedfrom one person to another.

  "Why, Sally," said the factory owner in astonishment. "I had no idea youwere working here on the night shift. When were you employed?"

  "A week ago."

  Perplexed, Mr. Gandiss stared at the girl's factory badge. There could beno mistake. Plainly it bore the number 567.

  "You like the work?" he asked after an awkward silence.

  "Not very well," she confessed truthfully. "However, I can use the pay Ireceive."

  "During the daytime I believe you help your father aboard the _RiverQueen_," Mr. Gandiss resumed, trying to be friendly. "Rather a strenuousprogram. When do you sleep?"

  "Oh, I get enough rest." Sally spoke indifferently, though her eyes werered and she looked tired. "Pop didn't want me to take the job, but I havea special use for the money."

  "Pretty clothes, I suppose--or perhaps a new sailboat?"

  "A college education."

  Mr. Gandiss nodded approvingly, and then, recalling the serious chargeagainst the girl, became formal again. "You wonder why I sent for you?"

  "I know my work hasn't been very good. I've tried, but I keep ruiningmaterials."

  This gave Mr. Gandiss the opening he sought. "What do you do with thediscarded pieces?" he inquired.

  "Why, I just throw them aside." The question plainly puzzled Sally.

  "You may have heard that we are having a little trouble here at thefactory."

  "What sort of trouble, Mr. Gandiss?"

  "Small but valuable pieces of copper and brass seem to disappear withalarming regularity. Most of the thefts have been attributed to workerson the night shift."

  Sally's blue eyes opened wide, but she returned Mr. Gandiss' steady gaze.Her chin raised. "I've heard talk about it among the girls," she repliedbriefly. "That's all I know."

  "You have no idea who may be taking the materials?"

  "Not the slightest, sir."

  An awkward silence fell. Mr. Gandiss started to speak again, then changedhis mind.

  "Was there anything else?" Sally asked stiffly.

  "Nothing."

  "Then may I return to my work?"

  "Why, yes." It was Mr. Gandiss' turn to appear awkward and ill at ease."We hope you will enjoy your work here, Sally," he said, feeling that afriendly word was necessary to end the interview. "If you should learnanything that will lead to the arrest of the thieves, I hope you willgive us the information."

  Sally inclined her head slightly in assent. With dignity, she walked fromthe office.

  No one spoke for several minutes after the girl had gone. Then Mr.Gandiss drew a deep sigh.

  "I had no idea Sally was working here," he said, frowning.

  "Father, you shouldn't have accused her of stealing!" Jack burst out.

  "My dear boy, I accused her of nothing."

  "Well, Sally is proud. She took it that way. You don't really believe shewould stoop to such a thing?"

  "I confess I don't know what to think. Joe the Sweeper may not be areliable informer."

  "If he saw her hide brass in her clothing as he claims, why didn't hereport her last night?" Jack demanded. "Sally is no thief. I've known hersince she was a kid. I get mighty sore at her sometimes, she's so cocky.But she never did a dishonest act in her life."

  "I'm glad to hear you defend her, Jack," Mr. Gandiss said quietly."Certainly no action will be taken without far more conclusive evidence.Now suppose you and Penny amuse yourselves for a few minutes. Mr. Parkerand I have a few business matters to discuss."

  Thus dismissed, Penny and Jack wandered outside.

  "Want to see the steel plant?" Jack asked indifferently. "They should bepouring about this time."

  At Penny's eager assent, he led her to another building, up a steepflight of iron stairs to an inner balcony which overlooked the huge blastfurnaces. In the noisy, hot room, conversation was practicallyimpossible.

  Gazing below, Penny saw a crew of men in front of one of the furnaces,cleaning the tapping hole with a long rod.

  In a moment a signal was given and the molten steel was poured into aladle capable of holding a hundred and fifty tons. An overhead crane,operated by a skilled worker, lifted the huge container to the pouringplatform.

  Next the molten mass was turned into rectangular ingots or molds.

  "The steel will cool for about an hour before it is ready to be takenfrom the mold," Jack shouted in Penny's ear.

  Moving on, they saw other ingots already cooled, and in a stripping shedobserved cranes with huge tongs engage the lugs of the molds and liftthem from the ingots.

  "Each one of those ingots weighs twenty thousand pounds," Jack said,surprising Penny with his knowledge. "After stripping, they are placed ingas-heated pit furnaces and brought to rolling temperature."

  To see fiery ribbons of steel rolled from cherry red ingots was to Pennythe most fascinating process of all. She could have watched for hours,but Jack, bored by the familiar sight, kept urging her on.

  Leaving the steel plant, they returned to the main factory buildings, andwithout thinking, sauntered toward the room where Sally worked. Aportable lunch cart had just supplied hot soup and sandwiches to theemployes. Sally sat eating at her machine. Seeing Jack, she quicklylooked away.

  "Now she's really sore at me, and I can't blame her," Jack commented."Who is Joe the Sweeper anyhow? Riff-raff, I'll warrant."

  Though somewhat amused by the boy's staunch defense of Sally, Penny wasinclined to agree in his second observation. Although she knew nothing ofthe man who had turned informer, she had not liked the sly look of hisface.

  Before the pair could approach Sally, the brief lunch period came to anend. A whistle blew, sending the girls back to their machines.

  "You'll have to step on it," a foreman told Sally. "You're behind in yourquota."

  Her reply was inaudible, but as she adjusted her machine and started itup, she began to work with nervous haste.

  "This is no place for Sally," Jack said, obviously bothered. "She neverwas cut out for factory work. And that foreman, Rogers, who is over her!He's a regular slave driver!"

  "I thought you didn't like Sally," Penny teased.

  "I want to see her get a square deal, that's all," Jack replied, his faceflushing.

  Joe the Sweeper sidled over to the couple. "What's the verdict?" he askedin a confidential tone.

  Jack pretended not to understand.

  "Is the gal going to get fired?"

  "I'm sure I don't know," Jack answered coldly. "Why does it mean so muchto you?"

  "Why, it don't," the sweeper muttered. "She ain't no skin off my elbow."

  Penny and Jack walked on through the workroom, aware that many pairs ofeyes followed them. Sally, bending over a grinding machine, looked upself-consciously. She was grinding pieces of metal, measuring each with amicrometer. There was a streak of grease across her cheek and she lookedvery tired.

  Suddenly as Sally threw the wheel in, there was a loud clattering noise.The foreman came running. He threw the wheel back.

  "What did I do?" Sally gasped, shaking from nervousness.

  "You forgot to pull this lever." The foreman said curtl
y. "Ruined a pieceof work too! Now try to think what you're doing and get down tobusiness."

  Penny and Jack moved away, not wishing to add to the girl'sembarrassment. But a few minutes later, in leaving the workroom, theyagain passed close to Sally's machine. This time she did not see themuntil they were almost beside her.

  "How is it going, Sally?" Jack asked in a friendly way.

  Sally raised her eyes, and in so doing forgot her work. As sheautomatically placed the metal in line with the wheel, she held herfingers there without thinking. Another instant and they would have beenmangled.

  Horrified, Penny saw what was about to happen.

  "Sally!" she cried. Acting instinctively, she reached and jerked thegirl's hand away from the swift turning machinery. The wheel had missedSally's fingers by a mere fraction of an inch.

  The foreman came running again, obviously annoyed. Shutting off themachine, he demanded to know what was wrong.

  Sally leaned her head weakly on the table, trying to regain composure.Her face was drained of color and she trembled as from a chill. "Thanks,"she said brokenly to Penny. "I--I don't know what's the matter with metonight. I'm not coordinated right."

  "Go take a walk," the foreman advised, not unkindly. "A nice long walk.Get a drink or something. You'll be okay."

  "I'll never learn," Sally said in a choked voice.

  "Sure, you will. Everyone has to go through a beginner's stage. Getyourself a drink. Then you'll feel better."

  "Let me go with you," Penny said, taking Sally by the arm.

  Without conversation, they made their way between the long rows ofmachines to the locker room. There Sally sank down on a bench, buryingher face in her hands.

  "I'm nervous and upset tonight," she excused herself. "I can't seem toget the hang of machine work."

  "Why not give it up? Do you really need the money so badly?"

  "No," Sally admitted truthfully. "I've set my heart on a collegeeducation, but Pop could raise the money somehow. It's just that he's hadfinancial troubles the past year, and I wanted to help out."

  "Some persons aren't cut out to be factory workers," Penny resumed. "Doyou realize that you nearly lost several of your fingers tonight?"

  "Yes," Sally agreed, her freckled face becoming deadly sober. "I'llalways be grateful to you. What Mr. Gandiss said in his office upset me.I wasn't thinking of my work."

  "I thought that might be it. Well, forget the entire matter if you can."

  Sally nodded and getting up, drank at the fountain. "I'll have to go backto work now," she said with an effort. "First, I'll get myself a cleanhanky."

  With a key which she wore on a string about her neck, the girl opened herlocker. On the floor lay a leather jacket that had fallen from its hook.

  As Sally picked it up, a heavy object slipped from one of the pockets,thudding against the tin of the locker floor.

  She stooped quickly to retrieve it, and then, embarrassed, tried toshield the article from view. But she could not hide it from Penny whostood directly behind. The object that had fallen from the jacket was asmall coupling of brass!