"I'm going to try." "Does Mr. Gardner know about it?" "I suppose so. Jake said he sent him word." "All right, then, if he knows. Only," and Larry looked at the man, sharply, "you know the engineer can't leave till the watchman comes, and you're not the watchman unless you're regularly hired." The short man scowled, and then, as though suddenly thinking a frown was not the best passport for gaining good-will, he smiled, at the same time taking out the big bunch of keys which the watchman usually carried. "I couldn't get them from anybody but Jake, could I?" "I suppose not." "Well, if your father has a right to send you to take his place when he can't come, I think Jake can hire me to take his place when _he's_ sick. That's about the size of it, my boy. But if you ain't satisfied, you better go up and see the super. You know the kind of row he makes when the hands follow him home to ask questions. He always says, if a man can't think of enough to pester him about in the ten or twelve hours he's around the works, they needn't try to follow him home with their complaints." "I will go to supper, Gid," said Larry, quietly. But the man followed him to the door. "Your father sick?" he asked. "No." "Gone away?" "Yes." "Coming back in the morning?" "I don't know." Gid snapped his fingers and forgot himself so far again as to scowl. "Well, you're cross to-night; I'll say that for you, Larry," he declared, bluntly, and then turned back into the boiler-room and shut the door. "There is something wrong, and no mistake about it," was Larry's conviction as he hurried home. He was not too deeply worried to eat--a healthy boy seldom is. His mother was more cheerful than she had been at dinner-time; or, at least, she made an effort to appear so. "Has everything gone well to-day, Larry?" she asked, as he rose from the table. "As well as I could expect. There are one or two annoying fellows at the works, and they're envious because the super lets me run the big engine. They think I'm too young." "It is a responsible position, Larry, and it makes me proud of you to feel that you fill it so well." "It isn't hard to do; only I have to keep my wits about me. It wouldn't do to forget anything; and you know they say a boy _will_ forget." "All boys are not alike, Larry, and your father would not trust you unless he felt sure you would always be careful." Larry could not rest at ease until he had assured himself that it was all right to leave Gid in charge of the works for the night; and, without telling his mother what his errand was, he went out to find Mr. Gardner, the superintendent. The gentleman's house was half a mile distant and fully a mile from the shops. Larry hurried thither. To his surprise, Belle, the superintendent's daughter, came to the door. She was a sweet-faced girl, a year or two older than Larry, although they had been in school together.