CHAPTER VII

AN UNJUST SENTENCE

"You are wanted in the superintendent's office!"

Steve looked up from the pit into the face of a messenger.

"Superintendent Keating, you mean?"

"No, Mr. McNaughton, superintendent of the open-hearth furnaces. He's the boss of this department," grinned the messenger.

"Will I have time to wash?"

"You'd better be coming along, if you know what's good for you."

"Very well, but I must first report to the pit boss."

"He isn't here. He knows where you are going."

"All right, I'll take your word for it. What does Mr. McNaughton want with me?"

"He'll tell you when you see him," answered the boy.

Steve thought that the summons had something to do with the explosion in the pit. He had no idea that he was to be involved in any way, so he walked confidently along with the messenger, out at the rear door and on to a low, rambling building just across the tracks from the open-hearth building. This was the office of Superintendent McNaughton. Steve did not remember to have seen this superintendent before. The messenger, after entering with Rush, opened a door leading into a large office, and shoved Steve in.

A sandy-haired, rugged-faced man sat at a desk, while around the room were several men from the shops. Among them were Bill Foley and Watski Kalinski. The latter grinned when he saw Steve.

"What's your name?" demanded the man at the desk gruffly.

"Stephen Rush."

Steve's face was so coated with grime that it was unrecognizable, even to one who knew him well, which the superintendent did not.

"A man named Jarvis is your side partner, isn't he?"

"Yes, sir. He is in the hospital now."

"Never mind about volunteering information, my man. I'll ask whatever questions I want answered."

"Very good, sir."

"Where were you when the explosion in number eight occurred?"

"I was shoveling in number seven."

"Did you see the explosion?"

"Not at first. I saw the latter part of it."

"What was the man Jarvis doing the last time you saw him?"

"Sprinkling the cinders in number eight."

"Humph! What did you tell the fool to do that for?"

"I tell him?" questioned Steve wonderingly.

"Yes."

"I did nothing of the sort."

"Didn't the pit boss warn both of you not to put water on the pit when it was hot?"

"He did not. I heard him utter some sort of a warning, but it was not definite enough for me to understand what he was getting at."

"Kalinski, what did you tell me about this man's having told his partner to hose down the pit?"

Watski rose, full of importance.

"One of the men told me he heard this fellow Rush tell the other man to turn the hose on and cool the blamed pile off quick."

"He _lies_!"

Steve uttered the words quietly but incisively.

"Silence!" thundered Mr. McNaughton. "I'll have you turned over to the Iron and Steel Police if I hear any more of your impudence."

"I had no intention of being impudent to you. I simply said the man lies, and I repeat it. He knows no such order was ever given by me, and he knows that no one told him any such thing," added Rush boldly.

Kalinski's face was a study. It turned from red to white in rapid succession. The boss's fists were tightly clenched and he seemed to be trying to regain his voice, which had suddenly deserted him.

"Sit down!" commanded the superintendent, projecting a finger at Kalinski. "Rush, you be careful that you do not go too far. I am not inclined to stand much of your impudence."

"Mr. McNaughton, am I to be accused of something I did not do, and then not be allowed to say anything in my defense?" demanded the boy.

"I will be the judge of what you did and did not do. Foley, you say several of the men saw these two talking together--Rush and Jarvis, just prior to the explosion."

"Yes, sir."

"And that the man Jarvis then went back to number eight and began playing the hose on it?"

"Yes, sir."

"Do you deny this, Rush?"

"I don't know--I don't remember whether we were in conversation just before the accident or not. I can't remember. I do not think we were, however."

"You will admit the accusation in a moment," snapped the superintendent. "You had been told that it was dangerous to put water on a hot pit----"

"I had not, sir, neither did I put water on a hot pit. I knew Jarvis was sprinkling number eight, but I did not know that such a thing was dangerous. How should I? It was my first day in the mills. I was just beginning my work there. But, sir, what is it you are trying to do with me? Are these two men trying to get me into trouble?"

"It begins to look as if you had gotten yourself in, without any of their assistance. Does any one know how badly the man Jarvis has been injured?"

"I understand it is not serious," answered Steve.

"I shall have to discipline you both," began the superintendent.

"There can be no doubt," spoke up Foley, "that they were both to blame. It looked almost as though they did it maliciously, but that is hardly possible, as they were taking long chances. It was disobedience of orders, as plain as the nose on your face."

Kalinski nodded emphatically.

"I agree with you. Rush, what do you think we ought to do in a case like this?"

"Am I to speak as I think?"

"Certainly."

"You won't like what I am going to say."

"Then I will stop you if you say anything you ought not to."

"What I not only think but know ought to be done, is to kick the man Kalinski and the man Foley out of the place. I shouldn't ask them to go, I'd use my boot. Both men have lied. The truth is not in them, and some day you will find it out, even if you don't know it now."

The two bosses sprang to their feet, starting toward Steve, who stood eyeing them calmly, but in a belligerent attitude.

"I'd like nothing better than putting it over you two loafers. But, of course, you haven't the nerve to stand up one at a time and resent the imputation that you are liars."

"Stop!" thundered Mr. McNaughton.

"You told me to speak plainly. I am doing so, but I am telling the truth. Foley is angry with me because I told the truth and got him into trouble when I was in the accident department. He tried to get me to lie for him then. I knew, then, that he was more crooked than a steel rail coming through the rolls, and that's all I've got to say. I am glad to have put myself on record, and I'll take my medicine like a man, though the day will come when you will find that these men are rascals. The sooner you get rid of them the more certain will you be to avoid trouble. Good day----"

"Hold on, sir! Not quite so fast!" commanded the superintendent of the open-hearth building. "I have something to say for myself. The evidence is against you two. You have convicted yourselves. I have perfect confidence in both Foley and Kalinski. They have been faithful employés for many years."

"Yes, sir?"

"It is natural that I should take their version in preference to that of a man of whom I know nothing, and who has been in the mills less than a day."

"Even if those men are rascals," interjected Rush. "I dislike to use the word, but it is the only word I know that fits the case. If you wish to know anything about the honesty of myself and my companion, I wish you would be good enough to speak to Superintendent Keating. He knows people who have known us for some time, and----"

"I am running this division, young man. I think I am able to judge between right and wrong."

"Very well; I have nothing further to say in my defense. What do you propose to do?"

"I am going to do the only thing that can be done under the circumstances, though I dislike to do it with one of you in the hospital----"

"Please do not let that interfere with your decision," urged Steve.

"I shall not. You are both discharged!"

"What?"

"You're discharged! Leave the mills at once, handing in your time at the gate as you go out. I will advise the paymaster to hand you your money to-day, so you will not have to hang around until pay-day."

"Thank you. You are very considerate, indeed," answered the Iron Boy, sarcastically. "I bid you good afternoon. I hope some day you will discover that you did two boys a very great injustice. As for you," announced Steve in a firm tone, stepping over to where the two bosses sat grinning, "if you will come outside with me it will give me great pleasure to punch both your heads. But you don't dare! You'd call the police and have me arrested before I had gone one round with you. Good afternoon, Mr. McNaughton."

Steve strode from the office with head up. A dull flush showed under the soot on his face. He had met with his first real rebuff. He did not mind that so much as he did the fact that he had suffered through the untruthfulness of others. Rush knew that neither he nor his companion were in any way to blame for what bad happened. Neither of them knew that it was dangerous to sprinkle a cinder pit. Foley and Kalinski did know it and they had deliberately turned away when they saw Jarvis getting ready to wet down number eight.

"I'll not give up!" muttered Steve as he walked swiftly from the yards. As he passed the gate the gateman called to him to leave his number.

"I have no number," answered the lad. "I don't work here any more."

"You won't get your money if you don't hand in your time."

"I don't want any money that I haven't earned. I tell you I am not working here."

"I guess the boy must have been fired," grinned the gatekeeper, who knew that Steve had been working in the mills up to that time.

In the meantime Steve Rush was hurrying toward the hospital to see how Bob Jarvis was getting along.