Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1889-07-28
CHAPTER VIII.
MARTIN pENE HEARS NEWS.

i uOH I ilbS 10 IlSlGLl 10 LdLll6 dDOuI
the men, Dan - said Martin one morn
ing, as the boy was laying n charcoal fire
for him in one of the furnaces of the
great gloomy warehouse.
ono, sir, % course you don't, but
father says we shall all have to clear
when you gets your bag o tricks going -
''Your fathers very foolish man =,
Dan, - SAID Martin, smiling.
The boy looked up, rubbed a charcoaly
hand across his face, and grinned.
"Did you hear mother say that?'
''No.'
''That's what she always says to him
when she rakes him down Tor spending
his wages. She says he goes and spends
it at L saloon so as TO find the missus
there in feathers and fine clothes, while
his own missus wants a warm shawl for
the winter -
There was silence here; for Martin was
weighing out some powdered manganese
and placing it in a small cruoiDle; and
Dan 1 added artistic amusement to his
black job by building up the sticks of
charcoal into kind of tower, that was
less beautiful than black.
"Whatcher doing ali this here for,
sir?'' he hazarded at last.
''To make steel cheap, so that it can
be used in hundred ways.
"That s what father said, - cried the
boy eagerly. ''He said that the men
said that Gunnell and Swift said you SAID
it would make steel so cheap we should
all have to clear. -
eff ever you hear any one say that
again, Dan, tell them i Is vulgar igno-
rance, for am working to do every one
good -
81 said you was, - cried Dan. "I
told Big Bob Jarlow as You WASN'T the
sort o chap to do any one harm, and he
said you was, and punched his nose for
it, and then we had a set-to in the cor
ner of the yard, up behind the steel
stack. -
''Dan, you foolish boy. never get
yourself into trouble by defending me
again.
"AlI right, sir. I did give it to him,
though, before l was done up. He's
such big, strong chap, l did get lick
ing. -
''He beat you?''
''Didn t he just, sir? You feel here
what a lump l we got still in the back of
my head!"i
Martin did not feel, but went on with
his work with his brow wrinkled, think
in the way of success.
81 run agen Gunnel and Swift 8 two
gals yes day, Dan ventured after a
time, but there was no reply, and the boy
looked over his shoulder to see that Mar
tin had seated himself by bench with
his back to him and his head in his hands,
porting over some calculations which he
had made.
Dan sighed, for it was dull work there
acting as attendant to the young inventor
"a post he had greatly coveted, and one
which was the envy of all the boys in the
works, consequent upon the highly col
ored narratives given by Dan of the vari-
Gus fireWork- like experiments that were
made.
Dan remained silent for a time, and
then, with his tongue all a-quiver to be
used, he went on, quite ignorant of the
fact that his principal was eagerly drink
ing in every word.
al do like GunnelI and 'Swift's gals.
They ain t both his gals, cause father
says one on 'em, the little chummy one,
IS GunneII and Swift's sister, gal, but
she S most always here now.
Dan stopped to turn his mouth into
bellows, so as to blow ub the charcoal
into a glow.
''she gave me dime yesterday;
like her. -
Andthen scores of puffs, and Dan went
on, apparently talking to the stick of
in the model furnace.
"SOmehow l seems to like other best
her as you kept from being smashed in
the wheel. She's so quiet and, kind like.
Give me quarter one day. -
More blowing.
u think she $ jolly soft, though, to GO
and marry CATER Cray. Wonder whether
he'll leather her after they re married?''
There was fresh pause, during which
the charcoal gave forth tiny. metallic
clicks and sparkled and glowed.-
Masters always leather their mis-
Another pause, amid which Martin |
Dene writhed, and lds teeth gritted to- |
gether. III.
''Ether feathers mother, - continued |
he boy, -" 'cept when he's took his |
wage, and comes home from the sa-
Don .no - ,,,,,.o a,
Then mother feathers him and takes |
I'll his money away. What a jolly fire |
IL she didn t We SHOULD soon all be |
house on what I takes home. Il give it |
III -to,her except 10 cents. -
ThereSWas another pause, amid which |
in spite ofhis brave efforts to concen-
rate his mind upUia his work-Martin
Oene could only think OF DiRah Swift as
h. wife of the overbearing manager, |
met him without a look of dis
Ike, which changed. to one of hatred as
OOn as they ha(E RaSsed
please, sir, may Ego half an hour
ooner s afternoon"
eyes, Dan, 1 shall not want you. Go 7
low, if you like.
Dan sprang from his knees as if he
7ere on springs, darted out of the place,
nd was gone without saying thank
-ou, or noting that a group of three
nen were watching Martin through one
f the openings in a louvre of coarse I
woodwork at one end Of the building.
The men sflGffled' away guilty. as the
10Y came out, but satisfied that they |
Tere not seen they resumed their position
{ the end of the lone building, far away
{ the end of the large works, and hidden
rom the other shops and foundries by
lies of balks and stacks. OF pig iron and
teel
Now it SC happened that Gabriel Gray |
al baeu 0ut bad auoouDfnrY.l - GY,DuaN