Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1927-08-11
The Girl and the Mine.

vision. he had come GOWN from the
city that morning and was going back
by the afternoon train. lie took out
his watch.
Allison. he called. Mr.. Allison"
A strongly built young man emerged
from the grimy interior. Langhorne
looked at him speculatively.
You will have this lot out by d
o'clock, Allison, / think you said?' he
asked.
Yes sir
well. you may draw the fires then
and have the men begin clearing up.
/ shall not be down again
In spite Of its mask Of iron black.
Allisons face expressed incredulous
surprise.
You don't mean close the furnace,
sir"
Il mean just that" calmly, II have
been experimenting two years and
losing money right along. The ore
is too poor in quality for profitable
working. ] shall be sorry TO lose your
services, but all my other furnaces
are fully supplied with managers and
foremen. OF course" thoughtfully,
If you should care to commence
again as an ordinary workman, we
might"
II do not wish to leave here" broke
in Allison impetuously. and if you II
excuse me. I think you are making
n big mistake in closing the furnace.
1t will pay we'll in time. My expert
ments-"
Yes, things have improved since
you took charge" interrupted Lang
horne. "But you have not been able
TO eliminate the loss. / can under
stand your enthusiasm. ! was that
way at your age. But iron is n plain.
hard, practical business. And this is
your first command, so to speak" He
looked at his watch once more
Twenty minutes to train time. Sup
pose we walk back to the office and
wait until we hear the whistle. OF
course, shall try to sell, and. frankly,
do not expect to find either custom
ers or lessees. / would be glad 20
lease for nominal sum, just to have
somebody her. But. of course. no one
would care to operate the furnace at
a loss"
IF could" began Allison. Then
he stopped abruptly. He was going
TO say If he could raise the money.
But he could not, so what was the use
thinking about it. He added. instead,
''if I could have charge here there
would be a profit inside of three
months"
Langhorne's eyes twinkled and an
odd look came into them. Theys walked
on for some minutes in silence
until they reached the office, and Lang
horne seated himself in the only
chair 1t contained, motioning Allison
to a box. He rather liked the young
fellows belief in himself and his de-
what the broken sentence had started
to say. If 1t were not that
YOU'D like to take the plant your
self if you had the money" he said
abruptly. How much would you re-
quire to carry the furnace on to what
YOU believe would be expense making?
If loaned you $4,000. would it be
sufficient"
Allison was on his feet, his eyes
wide and looking grotesque in their
rims of iron black.
You don't mean this, Mr.. Lang
horne" he gasped. 81 have no means.
no security, not even my college ex-
penses paid yet. Then there's"
I've seen your work." CURLY, "and
am ready to loan you the money I'M
til the LIST of January. Unless you
bring the output to a profit by that
time. however. will try to sell. Do
YOU want it,"
"of course. if you're willing,
though"
There's the train whistle" inter
rupted Langhorne, rising from his
chair and starting toward the door.
You may draw on me for the money
as you need it, up to $4,000. No
more. And - er -" as the train
curved in sight around a hill and
slowed toward the platform. "remem.
Der our compact. There's to be no
correspondence whatever between you
and Helen until you are fully able to
support wife. On my part. will
show equal confidence in my daughter
and refrain from sending her to Eu.
rope. Good-by"
Allison watched him board the train
with conflicting emotions, then went
back to the office
He did not tell the men of the
change until the furnace had been
emptied and the bars of crude pig
iron shipped. That ended his duties
as employe, for, of course, with him.
self as lessee there would be no need
at least for the present, of cleaning
up the plant for inspection. Hence.
forth he was to be his own master.
FIRST he made careful estimate of
the coal on hand, charging it against
the promised loan, and of the amount
umating that at the cost Of bringing
out. then making list of such other
things as he could use and which
belonged to the plant. Then he wrote
Langhorne, Offering him one-half the
pronts after he had brought the fur.
mace to paying basis, in the mean
time mourning all expenses of running
work and improvements himself. That
zone, he called the men and made
them acquainted with the change.
me next day he passed for the most
part at the mouth of the furnace
neiping with and overlooking the ore
as 1t was poured in. But in spite OF
ms care and watchfulness the resul,
was not satisfactory, and the newly
MADE pig iron was carried round and
cast back into the furnace, to be once
more melted. Again and again was
this done, and though the results were
often Improvements on the preceding
ones, they were not what he hoped
ana was striving for. So he worked
and experimental, the loaned capita
growing smaller and smaller until al
length he began to discharge the more
shiftless of the men. At the end O;
November his working force hat
dwindled to 10 men and himself, anC
his money TO less than $780, During
the last few weeks but little time haC
been given to sleep. Through the day
he had worked with the men, silent
watchful, untiring. and most of the
nights were given to study and the de
vising Of new experiments. Somethin,
was lacking, some little point which
he had missed. Perhaps it was in tn,
ore, perhaps in the furnace, possibl,
somewhere else. Only he had missed
it. And yet the secret was hoverinl
at his very finger tips. He was sure 0
that.
The 10 men remaining to him wer.
the pick of the neighborhood, in whom
he was every day growing to repos
more confidence. They were all har,
working, and tried to meet his wishes