"Nothing is the matter with me," answered Steve, the harsh lines that had grown on his face during the night smoothing out into a wan, but sunny smile. "Well, if there isn't there ought to be, for you are about the worst-looking object I ever saw." "You--you wouldn't take a prize yourself, at--at----" "At a poultry show, no," finished Jarvis. "Come along; are you going home, or would you rather hang around here?" "Home?" answered Steve. "I think you will have to be carried, if you get there to-day. Shall I go get a rig for you? You're clean knocked out." "I tell you I am all right," retorted Rush, with some show of irritation. "Don't you trouble yourself about me." Bob gazed at his companion in surprise. Steve had never spoken to him in that tone before, so Jarvis kept still for a time as they went on across the yards, over the hot metal bridge and to the lower exit from the yards. As they were passing out they met Ignatz Brodsky coming in. The Pole stopped short, peering into the face of Steve Rush. "What the matter with you?" "Nothing is the matter with me, Ignatz," answered Steve, by this time in better control of himself. "I am a little tired--that's all." "You stay by the house to-night. You no go to the furnace; you go by the graveyard by and by." "We expect to, you old croaker," scoffed Jarvis. "Go on, or else talk about something pleasant. Where are you working now?" "I work by the hot bed," answered Ignatz. Bob laughed heartily. "I guess we all do, though they are not exactly beds. Well, so long; we must be going." Brodsky bade them good-bye, Steve waving his hand; then the Pole stood looking after them, his eyes fixed longingly on Rush, whose gait was none too steady. Brodsky shook his head and went on to work. "What's a hot bed, Steve?" questioned Bob. "I don't know. I know a place that is hot enough to be called one." "And I know two places, the one you work in and the one I work on top of. Do you know, the waste gas that comes out of the top of that stove is strong enough to light a whole town?" "Goes up into the air, does it?" "All that doesn't swoop down and suffocate me. I've been asphyxiated every ten minutes since I have been up there." "I wonder why they don't use the gas for something else?" mused Rush. He lapsed into silence, pondering over this subject all the rest of the way home. This was well, for it made him forget his weariness in a measure. Reaching the widow Brodsky's, Steve was for going to bed without any breakfast, but Bob was so insistent that the boy did sit down to his meal after having taken his bath. Rush ate a fairly nourishing breakfast and after that felt better. This, followed by a refreshing sleep put him in very good condition.