Golden Days for Boys and Girls | Page 8

give the
wud."
"If he will go out without help, all right; if not, you may boost him a
little, if you wish to, Joe," said Larry, who had resolved to get rid of the
dangerous loiterer, this time for good, if possible.
"Git owd wi' thee!" ordered the big fireman, making a sudden and
furious feint of seizing the intruder.
This was more than Steve Croly had bargained for. It was very well to
come in and attempt to defy a boy, of whom he was envious, but quite
another thing to face the powerful fireman, whose bare, brown arms
and single gleaming eye lent him a most formidable aspect.
And so, without waiting to see how Larry went to work to set the great
engine in motion, Steve hurried down the steps and across the
boiler-room, not even looking back while he heard the fireman's heavy
boots clumping along the stone floor.
Joe did not attempt to follow the other outside. He turned back, with a
grimace which was intended for a smile, but which made his face look
uglier than ever; and a moment after the whistle sent forth its final roar,
which was the signal for every man and boy in the vast works to be in
his place and to begin work.

Then, with the same silent mirth distorting his features, the fireman
thrust his head into the engine-room and said:
"He tho't he'd go, lad; and A doon't think he'll coom back in a hurry."
Larry had started the great engine, and the silent, powerful strokes told
him that his father had left it in its accustomed perfect order.
The young engineer was still agitated from his encounter with Croly,
and he well knew that this was not likely to be the end of it; but he
could not help but smile in response to Joe Cuttle's evident enjoyment
of the affair.
"He didn't fancy having you put your grip onto him," said Larry, for the
big fireman relished a bit of flattery as well as any one.
"Hi, but didn't he shuffle oot, though, when he heard me after him! A
thought ee'd jump oot his shoes the way he went."
"He won't be likely to come here again, unless he is certain you are out
of the way."
"Mayhap he'll bother thee again, though, when A's gone home. Thou'lt
do well to keep an eye on him."
"I shall take care that he doesn't get in here again, and then I won't have
to be to the trouble to put him out."
Joe Cuttle indulged in another of his silent fits of laughter and then
returned to his furnaces, which he had to feed pretty constantly while
the great engine was using the steam.
The forenoon passed without further incident, and Larry was somewhat
relieved that he had not yet seen the superintendent.
He feared that the latter might ask some questions about his father's
absence which it would be embarrassing not to answer.
"Perhaps mother will tell me something about it when I get home," was

his thought, as he hurried along the narrow street which led to his
dwelling.
But again he was disappointed. His dinner was ready when he came in,
but Mrs. Kendall only sat at the table in silence and attended to his
wants.
Larry felt as though he could not restrain the growing feeling of
apprehension caused by his mother's looks and strange reticence. They
were so unlike her usual cheerfulness when he came home from school
or the shop, and he could see that she had grown yet paler than when he
left her at the breakfast table in the morning.
He had only a few minutes before he must return to the shop. Yet he
lingered at the door, cap in hand.
"Mother, what is it?" he pleaded, as she glanced toward him.
"Don't ask me now, Larry," she answered.
Yet there was an irresolute quiver in her voice that told him that she
longed to give him her confidence.
"I ought to know," he persisted. "I'm old enough to run the engine at the
works. Surely you and father ought to trust me to know what troubles
you. Father has gone?"
"Yes, Larry."
"When is he coming back?"
"I don't know. He doesn't know himself. But I hope it will not be long
before we see him again."
"The superintendent will ask me about it, and I don't like to act as if my
folks didn't trust me. If you can't trust me, he won't wish to."
"Your father told you what to answer if you are questioned."

"Mr. Gardner may be satisfied with that for a day or two, but if he stays
away longer than that--"
"Well, well!" Mrs. Kendall interrupted, so impatiently that