and he stood, dazed and in danger, until called down by the sharp
rebuff of the engineer.

"'Tend to your business, there. Don't watch that shaft or you'll go
dotty."

On the second day of the trip there was trouble in the fire-room.
The steamer had started on the trip short of firemen and now a
fireman who had fallen in the furnace-room, striking his head on the
steel floor, was lying unconscious in his berth. The pointer on the
steam-gauge fell back, the engine slowed down, crisp commands came
from pilot-house to engine-room, sharper messages passed between
engine and fire rooms, while overworked men grew sullen and
threatened to throw down their shovels.

Dick offered to do the work of a fireman, but the engineer shook his
head and said:

"That's a man's work, boy."

"Give me a shovel and a chance."

And they were given him. He soon learned to throw the coal evenly
and feed the furnaces like a fireman, but his unseasoned body shrank
from the fierce heat; he staggered back from the hot blast every
time he swung open a great furnace door and, until the clang of its
closing, he could scarcely draw a breath. He threw off his jumper
and his white skin fairly gleamed in that grimy place. The other
firemen looked curiously at that slight, boyish form which was doing
a man's work like a man and there was no more shirking in front of