"Then take them there, please. Do you need any more ambulances?"
"No; but I wish you would get some men to carry these poor fellows to the ambulances."
"Foley, will you please assign men as litter-bearers?" requested Rush, turning to the foreman of the open-hearth.
The foreman did so sullenly and grudgingly.
"They might better go home," he growled. "You fellows are trying to make a mountain out of a mole-hill."
Four men were assigned to the task, however, and these, hurrying out, soon returned with two litters. On them the injured men were placed and in turn borne to the waiting ambulances, in which they were tenderly placed. The first ambulance, being filled, was hurried away to the company's hospital, a few doors from the main offices of the mills.
Steve pushed forward his inquiry with great energy. There seemed nothing too trivial for him to inquire about, if it could possibly bear on the accident. So persistent were his inquiries, into these accident cases, as to cause those who were in any way responsible to feel a sense of uneasiness the moment they saw the lad enter their building. Rush spared no one when that person was in any way to blame. He did his work well and conscientiously, without fear or favor. As a result he made many bitter enemies as well as some life-long friends.
The men in the mills with whom he came in contact in these hurried visits had come to regard Steve as one among many. He did not side with the bosses, and, though he was the friend of the men, he did not side with them unless their side chanced to be the right one.
The reader has already recognized in Steve Rush and Bob Jarvis, the Iron Boys, who, as told in "The Iron Boys in the Mines," began their career in the great industrial world, at the foot of the deep shaft in the Cousin Jack Iron Mine. It will be remembered that they distinguished themselves there in the beginning by their courage, resourcefulness and persistent efforts to serve their employers in the best possible manner. It was in this, their first employment, that the Iron Boys became friends after a fight and from that moment began a friendship that was destined to last for years, in fact as long as the lads lived. Their escapes from death were many and thrilling, but because of their courage and cool-headedness they came safely through their apprenticeship, winning promotion and the confidence and respect of their employers.