"I don't mean to drink the stuff down, but tasting with your ears, eyes and nose; hearing, seeing and smelling--understand?" "Yes; I catch your meaning." "When you get to that point you may consider yourself a furnace man. But it is dangerous business. A man never knows when he's going to get his, and be dragged out in the wagon. We don't think of it, though. A fellow gets used to all sorts of dangers, and goodness knows these mills are full of them. When a fellow gets hurt, however, it's most likely his own fault. The company does all it can to protect its men." "So I have observed. Some of its men are more dangerous than the perils of the mills themselves," answered Steve with a laugh. "I reckon you are right at that. You're learning the whole business, ain't you?" "I am trying to." "Then you've bit off a full mouthful. Going to the open hearths from here?" "I do not know; I am going wherever I am put." "That's the usual way they promote from here, and so on into the mills themselves. Where'd you begin?" Rush told him, relating his experiences in the pit, but mentioning no names. Pig-Iron Peel's face grew black with righteous indignation as he listened to the recital. "Who was the fiend?" he demanded. "I am not going to tell you." "He ought to be whaled with a red hot angle bar, until there wasn't a piece of skin left on him as big as a bolt-head. I'd like to get the duffer in my hands just once--only once--that would be enough for a starter from me. The pup!" Peel had raised his voice to a high pitch. Steve glanced over toward Watski Kalinski. The latter was regarding Peel and Rush angrily. It was quite evident that either he had caught the drift of the conversation by hearing some of the words, or else he suspected the truth from their actions. "I wish you'd tell me who it was, Rush." "No, I could not think of doing that. He has been pretty well punished already, and he is likely to get worse if he tries any more of his tricks. Jarvis gave him an awful whaling, you know." Rush raised his voice so that Kalinski could not help hearing every word this time. "He did, eh?" "Yes." "Is Jarvis much of a scrapper?" "He is a whirlwind." "Good for him! I'll get him off the charging platform and give him something better down here," said the head melter, as he nodded approvingly over what Steve had told him. "That's the kind of a boy for me. No, I don't mean because he fights. I got no use for a brawler, but because he can be a man when he gets up against the real thing. Tell me about that mix-up." This Steve did, including the kicking of Brodsky, which really led to the interference of Jarvis. Peel stamped about on the fire brick of the platform, his anger growing momentarily. "The whelp! The miserable cur! He'd better not show his face around these furnaces. I'll break every bone in his miserable no-account body. Tell me who he is! Tell me who he is!"