Los Angeles herald., 1906-02-18

| where open-hearth steel was made had its faith
in this saying deepened. incidentally IL is to be
noted that certain members Of the gang from
that moment became the prime movers in black
conspiracy.
| There were fifty thousand pounds Of fluid steel
IN the big ladle which received the metal from
furnace No. when the pearly gish from the
tapping hole, spout Of the furnace, dwindled
and ceased to flow. Banks had previously made
last the heavy hooks which casped the ladle and
suspended it from the chains Of the crane. Nc
Crea and Peterson leaned on their tapping irons,
and waited with the rest of the gang for the Ia
die to be swung up out Of the pit and over TO
the mould, into which the metal was TO be
poured Mr.. Baxter looking on, the foreman Of
the gang waved his hand and gave the order to
the crane-driver to lift away. Barney. looking
down from the elevation Of the crane cage,
moved two levers, and the machinery of the
crane, singing song in praise Of work, gathered
in few inches Of chain, and then, Just to show
how easy it was to pick up trihe of fifty thou
sand pounds frightened its muscles and lifted
the ladle clear Of its supports and almost up to
the level of the floor of the shop To all the
hands but Barney the thing was commonplace
whose single claim the interest Of mankind
was that IL gave minute or more perhaps, in
which to rest cramped back and fling the sweat
from ones brow. To Barney IL was an ever
new and ever glorious achievement over which
to exchange whispered condolences with the giant
whose steel frame thrilled at his touch His own
muscles contracted even now the ladle rose in
the air, and his lungs compressed with the
strain Of the lift. But there was joy in meas.
uring himself against the weight of that mighty
load, and he felt that nothing could resist him.
For the moment he had passed, soul and body,
into the great piece of machinery that he rode
But then suddenly the cage trembled, there
was report like pistolshot jar that almost
unseated him, dull followed by series OF
explosions, and a sound Of things breaking.
Something struck the cranedrver sharp blow
just over the left ear. For a moment only he
was confused and suffered from the pain, but
! the next moment he raised himself clinging to
! the handrail of the cage, and looked down, A
| bloody mist made all below him obscure, but
through the haze he dimly half dozen
| men PROSTATE the ground many more
scrambling over scraps of IRON Beneath the
other end of the crane the ladle hung lop-sded
| from chain, over its lower edge torrent of
molten steel pouring into the pit, while flick
| ering flames of many colors played above 1T and
sparks flew in all directions. 1t needed not the
! sight Of swinging chain, shorn of its hook, to
| tell him that link of that chain had broken and
that the ladle had dropped upsetting its con-
tents and scattering splashes of molten steel. Yet
| it seemed that every man below had escaped the
fiery bath; for, at Mr.. Bakers order, they were
even now raying from their fight and running
| back to the pit.
Barney suddenly discovered that Mr.. Baxter
was shouting angrily at him, and he put over
one of the levers and watched the ladle settle
until it was upright. Then for the first time he
| knew that the flying steel had found a victim
in himself. Some small piece of metal pro-
jected by the explosion, had struck him the
temple He put his hand to his head, and with
drew it wet with blood and, for a moment, he
grew faint with the sharp pain that smote him.
But he braced himself and waited for orders,
for discipline grows into habit, and habit Is part
of our unconscious selves. So it was that, while
the men worked below and the blood dried on
| the wound on his head, Barney's brain was busy,
not with the damage that bad been done, not
with his physical suffering but with an idea
that came to him as he saw McCrea and Banks
and Peterson returning to the pit unhurt. And
this idea turned over and over, grew from a
suggestion into a suspicion, and then into an
sertion which the crane-driver finally whispered
to his friend.
"'Twas done a-purpose Twas them that done
t. that McCrea an Banks an Peterson, an they
| done u T. hurt us, t cripple before Mister
Baxter an t. give us black name. Twas them
that fooled with that chain till they made sure
| 'twould break."It seemed to him that the sulen
silence of the crane gave agreement to his words.
But throb of pain made him put his hand to
| his head again, and in another minute he was
given orders to move down the shop. AS he backed
away he looked down at the gang about the pit
Banks stood beside McCrea, and both men glanced
at Barney, and Banks started his eyes fell on
the crane.driver, and he nudged McCrea, and his
lips twitched as if he were about to speak. But
he said nothing. There a queer look in his
face however, and Barney, seeing these things,
knew that his suspicion was based on truth, for
he detected a leer of triumph about Banks
mouth and the glitter of hate in his eyes When
he turned to the crane he still more sure
that he right; again and again in its rum
bling voice, as it rolled over the tracks, he heard
the mutterng of its angry heart.
When at half-past five that afternoon the
whistles blew, and the nghtshift came crowd
ing in 10 take the places of the men at work
Barney slowly descended the ladder from the
crane to be met at its foot by the day foreman.
! Banks filling pipe within earshot and
Barney that he fingered there with a pur-
pose, and his anger grew bitter thereupon
He knew that he to be "called down." per-
haps even told to go to the pay-desk and get
what money due him; and this it seemed
was to happen right before the man whom he
hated most. A sort of desperate indifference
came upon him in consequence and he was stub
born and sullen in his replies to the foremans
questions, and sharp reprimands when taken to
task for carelessness in breaking the chain He
tried not to look at Banks the while, but out of