addition to his own.

Jack paid no heed to this, however, but kept about his work as if
everything was all right, until a little incident occurred which
completely changed the aspect of affairs.

Unknown to our hero, there had been a practice of long standing among the
workmen of "testing" every new hand that came in, by playing what was
believed to be a smart trick upon him. The joke consisted in sending the
new hand in company with a fellow workman to bring from a distant part of
the shop a pair of wheels, one of which was of iron and weighed over four
hundred pounds, while its mate was made of wood and finished off to look
exactly like its companion. The workman in the secret always looked out
and got hold of the wooden wheel, which he could carry off with ease,
while his duped associate would struggle over the other to the unbounded
amusement of the lookers-on.

It heightened the effect by selecting a small, weak man to help in the
deception, and Henshaw, liking this joke no less than his men, on the
third day of Jack's apprenticeship, said:

"North, you and Mires bring along them wheels at the lower end. Don't be
all day about it either," speaking with unusual sharpness.

"Yes, sir."

In a moment every one present was watching the scene, beginning to smile
as they saw Mires start with suspicious alacrity toward the wheels. Some
of the men, in order to get as good a view as possible of the expected
exhibition, stationed themselves near at hand, having hard work to