"It just broke, that's all. They're all likely to do that."
"They are all supposed to be examined daily, too," answered Rush quickly. "The company's first care is for the safety of its men. Still, it's not the part of my duty to preach to you."
"No; I'll do my duty, old chap, though in this case it means some trouble for you."
Two ambulances had arrived by this time and the surgeons were giving first aid to the injured as the men lay stretched out on the still hot cinders on the floor of the dingy mill.
The work of the mill had not ceased. It went on with a rush and a roar, interspersed with reverberating crashes, here and there, that sounded as though the steel roof were caving in.
"Any of them seriously hurt, Doctor?" demanded Steve.
"One is very badly burned. He won't get well. As for the others, I can't promise."
"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.