The Iron Boys on the Ore Boats; or, Roughing It on the Great Lakes Read online

  CHAPTER IV

  THE BOYS STAND THE TEST

  "YOU want to get on board the 'Wanderer,' eh?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "What for?"

  "I have told you we were to ship on her--we were to work on board."

  "What were you to do on board?"

  "We were to work at whatever we were set at."

  "Hm-m-m!" mused the red-faced skipper. "Had your breakfast?"

  "No, sir; we have not had anything to eat since we ate luncheonyesterday noon."

  "Hm-m-m-m. Come with me."

  The captain led the way aft over the decks, along a walk at the side ofthe hatches, which the lads observed were snugly battened down. Theirconductor passed on by the engine house, clear to the stern of thevessel, where he entered the door of the deck-house.

  "Jake!" he called sharply, poking his head into the room.

  A white-capped, white-aproned man suddenly made his appearance.

  "Vat iss?" demanded the ship's cook.

  "Give these boys some breakfast."

  Jake surveyed the boys critically before replying.

  "_Ja_," he said, turning back into his kitchen.

  "Sit down at the table. When you have finished eating come forward and Iwill talk with you."

  "Thank you. Where shall we find you, sir?" asked Rush.

  "If I'm not in the wheel house I'll be somewhere else."

  "I hope you won't take it into your head to meet us in the hold,"interjected Jarvis. "We have had hold enough to hold us for the rest ofour lives."

  "Don't get smart, young man," snapped the master, turning and leavingthe room.

  "I wouldn't get funny with the captain, were I in your place," warnedSteve. "He evidently doesn't appreciate your jokes. Smell thatbreakfast?"

  "You bet I do, but smelling won't help much."

  Jake soon brought in a satisfying meal, to which the boys helpedthemselves liberally. The cook stood about watching them questioninglyfor a time, but, as the boys seemed too busy to open a conversation withhim, he turned back to his galley with a deep grunt of disapproval.

  After having finished their meal the Iron Boys went out on deck, wherefor a time they stood leaning over the rail looking down into thefoaming water slipping past the side of the ship.

  "We had better be going forward, Bob," suggested Steve.

  On the way forward they passed several deck hands at work. Some weresweeping, others washing down the decks with a hose and a scrub brush.

  "That's going to be our job, I guess," grinned Bob.

  "Then, it's me for the mines, Steve Rush!"

  Inquiring for the captain, they were told that he was in his cabin justunder the pilot-house. They hurried there, and, knocking, were told toenter. The captain's quarters they found, to their surprise, to beluxurious. There was an observation room extending across the ship, witheight windows in front, looking out on the sea ahead of the ship. Offfrom this observation room and to the rear of it were two handsomebedrooms, furnished with brass bedsteads and hung with silk draperies.

  Bob looked around for a mat on which to wipe his feet.

  The captain, seated at a desk, turned around in his chair, surveying theboys critically.

  "You certainly are not very handsome to look at," was his comment,uttered in a gruff tone.

  "No, sir, not very," admitted Steve, flushing as he looked down at hissoiled clothes.

  "Do we have to dress up on this ship?" demanded Jarvis, with some heat.

  "You will have to do one thing--preserve a respectful attitude towardthe commanding officer, and take orders without giving any back talk,"replied the master, eyeing the boy sternly.

  "We aren't working on this ship."

  "Perhaps you think you are not, but you are."

  "We are working, or going to work, on the 'Wanderer,'" answered Bob.

  "That is what I am saying. This is the 'Wanderer.'"

  "The 'Wanderer'?" exclaimed the lads.

  "Yes."

  "Then we did fall into luck, after all."

  "It looks that way, though you may change your minds before you've beenaboard long. Which of you is which?"

  "I am Steve Rush. This is Bob Jarvis."

  "Glad to meet you, young gentlemen."

  They could not tell if the captain intended the words to be sarcastic,or whether he meant to be polite to them. They were rather inclined tothe former opinion.

  "When do we go to work?" demanded Jarvis.

  "Now; at once. We don't have any lazybones on board this ship. Are youmen strong?"

  "Yes, sir; I think so," replied Steve, smiling.

  "Can you shovel coal?"

  "We can shovel anything that we are able to lift."

  "Very well, then; I'll put you in the stoke hole."

  "What kind of a hole is that?" questioned Jarvis.

  "That is the place where the black-faced gang shovel the fuel under theboilers to make the ship move along."

  "Oh, you mean the firemen?"

  "That's the scientific name. The common name is stoker. I'll send youdown to the chief engineer, and he will give you a trick. You'll have towork like sixty, and if you don't you'll get off at the Soo and foot itback home," continued the skipper gruffly.

  If Steve were disappointed, or objected to the work that had beenassigned to them, he made no comment. Jarvis, however, made no secret ofhis displeasure. He grumbled under his breath, despite the warning looksdirected at him by Steve Rush.

  Captain Simms pushed a button, and a few minutes later a short man,clean shaven, red of face like the captain, entered.

  "This is Mr. Major, the first mate. He is next in rank to the master. Hewill take you to the chief engineer for your assignment."

  "Where do we sleep?" asked Jarvis.

  "I had nearly forgotten that. You will show the boys their cabin, Mr.Major."

  The first mate nodded. His was a surly face, and the lads did notapprove of him at first. However, upon gaining the deck the first matespoke to them in a tone that was kind and helpful.

  "This is your first time out, isn't it, boys?" he asked.

  "Yes, sir," replied Steve.

  "Well, you'll get along all right. Do your work well and you will findthat Captain Simms will take to you all right. You will have enough timeoff to rest and sleep, though the work is pretty steady on the lakes.You will find this is the case when we are in port, even more than whenon the move. The loading and unloading keeps all hands at theirstations. You have been in the mines, have you not?"

  "Yes, sir."

  "We were foremen," interjected Bob.

  The mate glanced at them in surprise.

  "I should think you would have stayed there, then. The pay is better andthe hours more regular."

  "We wished to learn this end of the business," answered Steve somewhatshortly.

  A few minutes later they were introduced to Mr. Macrae, the chiefengineer, in whose department they were to begin their work on a lakesteamer. The chief was a man of few words, these words always to thepoint. The mate explained to him the disposition Captain Simms wishedmade of the boys.

  "Ever fire any?" demanded the chief.

  Steve shook his head.

  "Nothing more than a cook stove," spoke up Jarvis, with a twinkle in hiseyes, at which the chief's face threatened for a few seconds to relaxinto a smile. Instead, it drew down harshly and his lips set more firmlytogether.

  "Humph! Nice couple to send me, and short-handed in the stoke hole, asit is. Well, you'll fire all right, and you'll find it ain't no six-daystove-firing, either."

  "When do we go on?" asked Rush.

  "I guess now is as good a time as any. Where's your jumpers?"

  Steve glanced at his companion quizzically.

  "Did we leave our bags down in the hold, Bob?"

  "I guess that's where we left them, sure enough."

  The mate sent a deck hand for the bags of the boys, after which theyretired to the cabin set aside for them at the stern of the sh
ip, andbegan preparing for their new work. They went on duty at nine o'clock,being told that they would take a six-hour trick, with a six-hourlay-off, after which they would report for duty again.

  The chief took the boys below, introduced them to the foreman of thefire room, then stood about while the foreman instructed them in theirduties. These consisted in keeping the fire up under two boilers. Theywere obliged to throw the coal in many feet under the boiler, whichrequired both skill and strength.

  When the fire doors were closed, the heat was still stifling, but whenthe doors were thrown open waves of white hot heat leaped out envelopingthe stokers. The first time that Jarvis essayed the feat he burned hiseyebrows off by getting too close to the door and facing it full.

  Bob sprang back with a growl that was half howl. As soon as he could getthe door closed he ran to the water barrel, sticking his head clearunder. The stoke-room gang howled uproariously.

  "A lubber, eh?" laughed one of the stokers. "You'll get all the hotnessyou want before you get out of this hole. How about you, pretty boy?"turning to address Steve.

  "You look out for your own furnaces, old man; I'll attend to mine, andif I get stuck I'll ask somebody who knows."

  The gang laughed at this, and the fellow whom Rush had answered sosharply, glared angrily at the tall, slender lad who was throwing coalinto the white-hot mouth of the furnace. He was doing his work almost asmethodically as though he was used to it, save that his aim was notquite as sure as in the case of the more experienced men.

  After having watched the boys at work for a few minutes, Mr. Macraenodded to himself, then climbed up the ladders to the deck. He met themaster soon after.

  "Get those boys to work?" demanded Captain Simms.

  "Yes."

  "Any good?"

  "Pretty likely pair. They have the strength of yearling bulls. Where didthey come from? I didn't see them when we came out."

  "No, they came out of the hold," grinned Captain Simms.

  "Out of the hold?"

  "Yes; funny thing about that. They boarded the ship with a load of ore."

  The captain went on to explain how the boys came to be on board.

  "Doesn't it strike you as peculiar that they are sent down here in thisway?"

  "Not at all, Mac. They want to learn the business. Mr. Carrhart sent mea line yesterday explaining the case. Said they were a fine pair, and hewanted to see them get along."

  "Then why put them in the hole?"

  "Don't you think that will try them out as quickly as anything else?"said the captain.

  "I guess that's right," admitted the chief engineer. "And we need themjust now, too. I'm glad they are on board, even if they are green hands.But young Rush is going to be a winner, and no mistake."

  "What's the matter with the other one?"

  "Nothing, except that he is a little fresh at times."

  "So I already have observed. You will take that out of him, Mac."

  "I'll do that all right, or break his back in the trying. The stoke holeisn't any place for weaklings, as you and I know."

  "Keep me posted. I want to know about them. If they make good maybe I'llchange them, giving them a berth on deck."

  "We'd better give them a good try-out first," advised the chief.

  "Certainly."

  In the meantime the subjects of this discussion were toiling with mightand main far down below the water level. The ship seemed much steadierdown there, and there was scarcely any roll perceptible. Had it not beenfor the terrific heat the youngsters would not have minded the work somuch. However, as the day drew on they began to feel the strain.

  The gong, announcing the change of watch, sounded loud and startling.They did not give it any heed, but kept right on shoveling.

  "Well, are you fellows going to work right through the next trick?"asked the foreman.

  "Have we finished?" questioned Bob innocently.

  "Until nine o'clock to-night."

  The lads put down their shovels with a sigh of relief.

  "Is there such a thing as a bath room that we can use?" questioned Rush.

  "What? Do you fellows ever wash?" demanded the stoker who had had thewords with Steve earlier in the day.

  "That depends upon the company we have been in," answered the ladsharply. "Did you tell me about the bath room, sir?"

  The foreman could not repress a grin. He pointed up the companionladder.

  "You will find one on the deck above this. First door to the right."

  "Thank you, sir."

  Steve began climbing up the ladder, followed by Bob and, a few rungsbehind, by the surly stoker who had sought to have fun with the IronBoys and had got the worst of the argument in each case.

  Their first trick on board an ore carrier had been gotten throughsuccessfully, but it was about the hardest six hours the lads rememberedever having put in. They hurried out into the air before taking a bath.Never had fresh air smelled so sweet as it did that day. The lads wereblack, the coating of soot on their faces being streaked withperspiration, and their clothes could have been no wetter had they justcome up from the sea.

  "This is about the limit!" laughed Bob Jarvis. "Here I am, without anyeyebrows and half my beautiful locks burned away, all because you and Ihave ambitions to get on in the world. Honestly, Steve, is it worth it?"

  "You know it is, Bob Jarvis," answered the Iron Boy, gazing straightinto the inflamed, soot-framed eyes of his companion.