By
HENRY RUSSELL MILLER
C2 BLAS
Author of
POWER," Etc.
SYNOPSIS.
Mark Truitt, encouraged by
heart, Unity Martin, leaves Bethel, his
native town, to seek his fortune, Simon
Truitt tells Mark that it long has been
his dreain to see a steel plant at Bethel
and asks the son to return and build
one if he ever gets rich. Mark applies to
Thomas Henley, head of the Quinby Iron
works, for a job and is sent the
struction gang His success in that work
wing him a plare as helper Roman
Andzrejzski, ops arth furnaceman, He
becomes a in Rom } and
assists Plotr, Roman's son, in his studies
Kazia, an a ited daughter, shows her
gratitude ir } nner as to arouse
Mark's interes
to
to
boards wn's
ome
CHAPTER VIiI—Continued.
“Yes, you would, Kazia. But I guess
it's more than the money You
see, in Bethel there's no chance. noth
ing to do; except grow old
into your neighbor's business and
and want the things you can't have.”
“Yes,” she sald slowly, “I
“You know? Do you want thi
too?"
‘Want things!”
wondering breuth, as she
sire. She did nat walt
tion. "To be different.”
They sat a little above the carriage
road, along which rolled the Sunday
afternoon procession of pleasure-
takers,
in which two women sat, primly
right, hands folded in laps and
set straight ahead, the very picture of
Just
and
ali
know ™
KNOw
She drew a lor
measured de-
for his ques-
up-
faces
They Sat a Little Above the Carriage
Road.
well-dressed,
ability—as
anything he could
“ldke that?”
“Yes, like that, Sometimes.”
looked wistfully after the departing
respectabilities. “But mostly,
belong to somebody.”
“But Roman and
Piotr"
“They're ashamed of me and afraid
other people’'ll find out
When I went to school
and girls said things—and did things
I didn't care.” Her head went up and
her voice told how passionately she
had cared. “But Plotr told them at
home and they wouldn't let me go any
more. They'd be glad if I were gone
And some day—I will go.”
‘But where, Kazia?”
“1 don't know,” she
“If 1 knew, I'd gn now.
self-conscious respect-
different” from Kazia as
conceive,
She
Just to
the
Matka and
about me
the other boys
said
Some place
wearily
nobody, when they find
me like other people
added, “Jim Whiting.”
“And me,” he sald gently
“And you.” She turned
searchingly into his eyes
really make any difference to you?”
“1 settled that question once for all
last Sunday.”
out, treats
Except,”
to
strangely, He stirred uncomfortably
She saw, but did not understand.
She pointed to the sinking sun
“Sea! It's getting late, | must go
home and get your supper.”
to rise. But he did not release
hand.
you come again?"
upon her,
gratitude, of trust. “If you want to,”
she answered simply.
did repeat that holiday more than
once.
Mark did not try to analyze his
pleasure in those weeks His heart
sald: "I am young and life should be
bright. But this existence—toil, eat,
sleep and toll again-is eating my
youth away. | have a right to this
little pleasure.” The only real shadow
was that cast by Jim Whiting.
The weekly bulletins to Unity con
tained important omissiéns,
One night he was in his room, sleep.
less, There had been no little chat
with Kazia after supper. She had had
before Jim Whiting came to carry her
away. Mark lay there, tossing rest.
lessly, visioning the two In some se
cluded spot whtere Whiting could make
love to her undisturbed. The thought
was nol » sedative He wished they
would come home; he did not
to think of her out in the languorous
night with Whiting
In time they did return. The
mur of their voices on the little front
porch came to him through his open
window. Whiting seemed in no haste
to leave. Mark wondered impatiently
what they found to talk so long about
At length, gleep as far away as ever,
and went 1 3
what Intent he
bottom stair he
door. Whiting was
point of leaving Mark
m around Kazia;
and son
within the
he arose, dressed quietly
down with
stairs
hardly knew On the
facing the
BAW
an ar
Hot
sharper
Nor was it perceptibly
her deftly avoid
1ld hi
away
him coolly put
suffered it anger e
boiled
eavesdropper
cooled when he
the ki
she
ing
gaily
SAW
Whiting wo ave taken;
Whit.
stling
laughed as she broke
went down the steps, whi
still on the stair
standing
went in. She started
Is that you?”
“1 think
t know-—yer'
Know how his
“Promise me you
him
¢ $ ¢
his face out of
the long and search-
ingly into his eyes
gave a little sigh
Her lips w
Then she
ise-—now aited
Kiss
Gradually his senses cleared
began to
he
slackened
She
+h
Me
ugly treachery of
His strong clasp
§ od
what bad done
with
the
the sixth
change
seemed to feel
gense that was hers, in
him
What Is
quick alarn
She looked in
up
To
close
avoid her
again, burying
and yielded
of her Oh!
eyes he
his
to the
Kazia,
hair,
intoxication
Kazia!"”
CHAPTER VIL
Afire,
such a month the
remember, and
Children played lan
in the shade, and
ice wagons, quarreling
July
city
sickeningly hot
always
flocked around
came, as
could not humid
cool fragments
In the mills the men
“speeding up” as always
world hunger for steel, They drank
vast quantities of water; they salted
it that they might drink the more, be
lieving that in much sweating alone
lay safety. There were glants in those
But sometimes they fell. A sud.
den drying up of sweat, a violent nau
sea, a sharp blinding pressure upon
in a few minutes or fewer
hours they were dead; their names did
always appear in the daily lists.
Some that did not die found their
strength forever broken,
The flerce heat
naked sweating skin. The water he
drank carried out through bis pores
the food that should have nourished
him. The heavy labor put upon him a
toiled .on,
to feed a
not
incessant roar, tearing at quivering
nerves, impeding thought, became in
his overwrought state exquisite
ture. Hate, for the mills, for those
above who drove so pitilessly, even for
the men beside him, filled him; and
fear. Once,
gave his careless nod,
He envied Roman, often almost bit.
terly.
the effects of the intense heat, but
he was the sams unflurried philosoph-
turbed him
Through
beset by a
thelr turns
watching him
new
were
temptation.
ended Roman
est saloon and there drank repeatedly
whisky and brandy mostly
short-lived But there times
when the thought of the hour of sur-
were
lured him almost irresistibly.
and his companions to the bar.
“Whisky,” he ordered
Roman put out a restraining hand.
“You better not drink,” he counseled
gravely. "Or only beer.’
Mark laughed recklessly and re
peated his order. Thrice he drank
The dragging limbs
lifted, the misery rankling in his heart
dis He was cheerful, talkative,
soon maudlin
the whisky
customed brain:
drunk. Roman
put him to bed
he had had his period «
The next d
weight at his
solved
Before he reached home
possessed his
he
undressed
had
Was staggering
him and
without supper
ing gr
Roman, ul
awed
derstandis
d Mark
21000 An
be afrald
vervthing,
hs g
melodraz
¥ s four ¥
pay for this
had receded
id becon
He
thin a
ther
6 Yur
intensely
imes al
would not
sixth
into
fense
gllence
eyes a
days
went by
homeward,
he end
endurance
“Hut
“Pre
ane
bably just go on and
i'll dros I
I wish the
He
on
day wonder
end would come
thought nt
ight he me
Even the bath brought no relief. He
sat down to a supper against the very
~~
He Saw the Figure Crouching on the
Floor at the Bedside.
thought of which his stomach revolted.
After a few mouthfuls he left the table
and went to his room. He threw him
self, still dressed, on the bed, tossing
restiessly in the vain search for an
His body was one dull
ache. The overheated blood pounded
that hacked his brain, His skin was
hot and dry, his mouth parched: fever
rose,
The late derkness fell, dispelled a
little by the faint glow from a nearby
street lamp; it found him lying inert
but awake. His mind was beginning
feeling strange
shadowy objects that moved stealthily
about. He caught himself muttering
delirious, but he could not |
summon euergy to call out or arise.
It must have been 10 o'clock when
he thought he heard a light tap on the
door. He made an effort to speak.
"Come."
The door
toed softly
over him
opened. Some
the bedside and
one
tip-
to leaned
sick?”
“Are came the broken
“You looked so tired
and you came up without—speaking
me. They sald, let you sleep, But
I've been afraid
caught her hand and clung to it,
*
you
to
80
la
"Would you mind staying a while?
he whispered back. “My head does
funny tricks in the dark.”
She put hand
ad gave
ing ery are sick!
She left quietly
returned 1s
her free to hot
Then she
“You
the room
with
which ce
lighted the gas jet
Soon she
Lowe and a basin of
water in tinklied She
and turned it very
low,
piace.”
What place
“"Kazia
nore than cowardice
might have been
ir
CHAPTER IX.
Liguid iron.
WARE over
seven Roman had
few men can toll—on the
that had been his father's,
0 satis! greedy tax gatherer: in
Essen ing anothe under
master Krupp the new land
promise had lured him Not
superb strength and en-
therefore
had not
pei]
Years
as
Arn
learn r craft
the
whose
once had his
durance
Known
he had
believed
hat that overtook others
must some day be his. He had been
very prodigal of that strength
But ~guch a
failed him;
never fear,
he fate
that
COO bm
as in
the steel. workers called
he and fell. It waa three
days could go back to his
ob During that time Mark Truitt
a8 In charge of the furnace
He returned was not
ful, precise, flurried workman. He
knew He tired easily and was
The heat fretted
and he worried over his work. He
in efficiency; several times he
the furnace either goon
late and was sharply repri
To keep up and to forget
weakness he drank more
than Within two weeks
collapsed again
It was during Roman's third lay-off
Gracey, the foreman, said to
Mark It looks like Roman's done
me day one
#eason
i staggered
before he
the
who care
un
fear.
uncertain of temper
him
lost
too
or too
new
whisky ever
“It looks that way,” Mark assented.
“It's come pretty sudden with him
t does that sometimes.”
“Yes.” Mark stared sadly through
The drama had become a
There was an element in
of which chemists took no ac
~the lives and souls of men
“He can’t expect to keep his job.”
half the time like this,
he spoiled two heats,
have to let him go.”
“Yes!” Mark's mouth twisted in an
ugly sneer. “He's given you the best |
lie had. And now he's breaking down.
So-~scrap him, of course!”
“That's funny talk,” grunted the
foreman, “Eepecially since the super
intendent and I've been talking it over
and we think of you for the job. That
makes it look different, don't it?” he
laughed,
“No, it doesn't. Do you suppose 1
haven't been thinking of that-—eount.
ing on it——ever sinee he broke first?"
Mark turned hot eyes on the foreman.
“Why, that's the worst of you. You
drive us to the limit and whe# we
break you kick us off like an old shoe,
And that isn’t enough. You've got to |
And last week
I'm afraid we'll
AA ti
the fellow ahead, glad when
and lets go his job Damn
anyhow!"
“Then I'm
don't
he drops |
you all,
to tell the ¢
the
Mark looked again into the
intendent
uper
you want job 7"
boiling
iis
voles
their
before
furnace, felt {ts consuming
tened to the mills
Throug!
breath
strident
every caught
menace, his spiri
But
ing
cowered
he who had come sc
the bi
near Ww
of him
advancement would
Know
through whose
could tLer
fall
come
No! he snarled
himself
inaignation
in savage con-
and his hollow high
can tell I'm a
rest
You him
like all the
He was on the
the morning
beast
In
to
turn then
reluc
night
went
At
he tantly
breakfast
ut there
explain
t i ¢
UlicCie
ROOUS
bravely
and take it easy
listlessly. Here
But 1 do not vant
I vorkedt
iss mine A
easy. Alvays hat
rk of strong men.”
foreman and walked
before the furnaces
to take it
the %
He I
slowly un
y
old station. 1
watching the at
fig
the
the
of
where
particular watching
for that bor
endured
fell, How
niche!
Unt he iss not oldt
ia
who had
neatly he fit.
118 ew
Oldt!” Roman
shivered
Mark Truitt ate—or pretended
his in the saloon that
He could fot bring himself to
face the ordeal of sitting at table with
Roman's family
There was no sense of triumph in
his promotion, honestly earned though
it was as his world measured such
things
He walked to Roman's house, with
a firm tread that was the outward ex
pression of his mood. He knew just
what was coming. He dreaded it, the
moment when he must again face the
man by whose fall he profited, must
again break the sweet ties this life
formed only to sever, Yet he did not
flinch. He might rail against the is-!
sues presented to him, but at least he
had always the courage of his choice.
There was none of the trappings of
tragedy in the moment he had dreaded. |
to
eat
night
Inner
supper
in hand once more,
Mark stopped in the doorway. For
the life of him he could not gpeak the
commonplace salutation on his lips.
He saw Kazia steal quietly from the |
room. But he knew that she stayed |
within hearing.
It was Roman who broke the silence.
“You hal eaten?”
“At the saloon.”
“Zo? You shouldt haf come,
vaited.”
Piotr snarled: “You've got a nerve
to come back here at all”
“Plotr,” Roman reproved
Ve
him
quietly, “it ies not for you."
“Of course,” Mark addressed Roman, |
1 suppose you
I blame myself somehow —
why. It--it isn't fair! It
you've heen You
fired
A fool
And I'd be a
you
“you want me to go
blame me
I don't know
my fault
ought to see that
to take your job that
it any more
' sneered Plotr re glad
:, 100
Piotr!” ded. Roman
on 451 i688 not your fault 1 am
gO
Root
vork
went
1
oldt, no Hi better you
ha! mine chop not
unt
§ iQ 7 " wv » f «
trong men ven | am
yu
i will go tonigh
“I bal! rot zaidt tonight
ha! another goot plac to
Piotr
“You're Glag
of the Chance.”
Sneered
Enough
AN
tears stood
th hands
*
Kazia'
taken his
} BLAS
fod
nd.’
understand,
reasoning
uldn’t
that's all
it than Roman,”
“ought to see it
have
concluded bitte
wd reason.
ou, if you
She couldn't go with him! His eyes
fell miserably
Oh, no!”
n With one swift step she
bridged space between them,
throwing her arms around his neck.
“Oh, no! 1 didn't mean that, I'd go
with you, whatever you did. I'd haves
to. 1 couldn't stay here, when you're
gone-—go back to the way it was be
fore you came. | couldn't stand that”
A little shudder passed over her.
“You can't understand,” be cried
again. "I've tried—"'
“1 know. [I've seen it troubling you,
though 1 didn’t know what it was. But)
cant you see? I'm the reason
You'll never find any one that can loves
you like 1 can. It's all I know-—tod
love--to love you, 1 don’t ask much.
But | can give—everything.”
With a force that must have hurt:
her he freed himself from her clasp:
the
ering his face with his hands. For a
breath the scales quivered. Then:
“Kazia.,” he whispered, “1 haven't.
been square with you. There's—there's:
“There is—And you"
After what seemed like a long
silence he dared to glance up to see
how she had taken it. By then she
had crept to the threshold and was
looking back at him. About her lips
a dazed, foolish little smile was play-
ing. And her eyes were the eyes of
one who had just seen a great horror.
When he looked up again, she was
gone,
An hour later—~how he could not
have told--he found himself wander
ing in the streets, carrying his ancient
carpetbag.
(TO BE CONTINUEDY