"As soon as I get my hat. I will join you on the outside." A few moments later they were walking briskly along toward the yards, Mr. Keating and the engineer together, Steve a little in advance of them. "What do you think of my young man?" asked Mr. Keating. "Rush? He is a very bright young fellow. You say he came down from the iron range?" "Yes, he and his friend Jarvis, I am told, were forging rapidly toward the front there. They shipped on an ore boat to learn that part of the business and then came down here to enter the mills. From a salary of more than a hundred dollars a month the boys are now receiving the munificent wage of a dollar a day. You do not need to know anything more than that about them, do you?" "No; that should be sufficient to establish their sincerity of purpose." "I should say so," emphasized the superintendent. "What do you think of Rush's proposal?" "I can answer that question better after I have looked over the ground and figured on the proposal a little." "It is a wonder we never thought of it before." "It is. Still, many important discoveries have been made by persons unfamiliar with the subject, as against the experiments of years by men trained to that particular profession." "See here, Phillips, don't you try to throw cold water on the achievements of my boys. I won't have it." "Not at all, not at all. When I am convinced that the boy has suggested a good thing I shall be just as enthusiastic as you are over it." "You professional men are a cold-blooded lot, aren't you?" "Do you wish to cross the metal bridge, or to go around the long way?" interrupted Steve halting to permit them to catch up with him. "We will take the bridge," answered the superintendent. "The hour is getting late and we have quite a little to look over before dark." Steve had already turned and was striding toward the bridge. As they reached it a metal train was just approaching. The Iron Boy halted to wait for the two men to come up, whereupon he fell in behind them, not for any particular reason, but because some instinct told him to do so. Mr. Keating and Mr. Phillips were engaged in earnest conversation discussing the plan proposed by Steve, so that they did not take particular notice of what was going on about them. They were used to walking along the narrow footpath by the side of the tracks on the bridge that hung high over the river, so that neither man was timid. They raised their voices to make themselves heard above the thunder of the hot metal train, as with its load of red hot pig-iron, it hurried on. The middle of the train was just abreast of them when Rush's quick eyes saw one of the big red molds swaying dangerously. This he could not understand, for the molds were supposed to be bolted to the cars, which was the case with all of the molds used in the transit of the pig-iron to the refining open-hearth furnaces.