"Stop, you thick-head, when you're told!"
"What for? We'll be through this wall in an hour!"
"You'll have a hole through it, maybe. But what good will that do?"
Otto stared at the official amazed, and the Bureau of Mines man went on:
"You've had to start working in a respirator, after all, haven't you? Why? Because of white damp! Haven't you got sense enough to see what would happen as soon as you drove a hole through big enough to let the white damp in and not big enough to get the men out? How long do you think they'd last in this air, in their weakened state?"
Otto looked at him a moment, and then nodded his head.
"You're right, boss," he admitted. "I'm a fool. I'd never ha' thought o' that. But what are you goin' to do?"
"You don't seem to know enough to use your eyes," the official answered, shortly, "and they told me you were one of the best men in the mine! What do you suppose we've been doing all this cement construction along this gallery for the last couple of shifts?"
"I hadn't stopped to think," admitted Otto, taken aback.
"Well, you'll have a chance to do some thinking, now."