Part 37 (1/2)

Another grin from the mixer was all the satisfaction that he received.

Instantly, Challoner leaped up on the platform and stood over the mixer.

At that, the man waved his arm; his signal brought not the head-superintendent, but the general foreman of the work, who demanded gruffly:--

”What's the trouble here?”

Challoner explained in a few words.

”You blamed idiot!” burst out the raging foreman. ”You leave the man alone! Do you think that he don't know how to mix concrete? Leave him alone, I say!”

But Challoner, now, was not a man to be so easily turned from his orders; and again he insisted:--

”Two more barrels of cement, I told you!”

And he kept on insisting so strenuously, that a little knot of labourers gathered around them to await the result. Finally, the foreman saw that the head-superintendent was coming toward them from far down the street.

”All right, then,” he conceded reluctantly, ”make it two more barrels of cement.”

But that same afternoon, the foreman singled Challoner out and paid him.

Then he lunged out, and striking Challoner on the shoulder lightly, he exclaimed:--

”There, you infernal jacka.s.s! You're discharged!”

”Discharged!” The exclamation fell from his lips before Challoner could check it; and notwithstanding his great disappointment, he made no further comment, but turned on his heel and left. The next day, however, he brought his case before the head-superintendent, who said:--

”If Perkins discharged you, I can't help it. I won't interfere.”

”But what was I discharged for?”

”Oh, come now!” cried the superintendent; ”you must know that you were discharged for stealing cement!”

Stunned for a moment, Challoner said not a word. Then slowly he began to understand. Graft! Yes, that was the solution of the matter. Cement was worth money in any market; and in the concrete business, n.o.body could tell,--until it was too late,--just how many barrels went into the mixture. With _bricks_--there was no doubt about bricks. A brick was good or bad; you could tell that by a trowel. But concrete was bound to be a problem henceforth to the end of time.

So it turned out that Challoner was discharged for doing the thing the foreman was guilty of doing. At the time he had little thought of resentment. It is true that he might have ”peached” on the foreman, complained to the head-superintendent, and got them to test the walls with a testing-hammer. But it was too late, besides, he knew now that the head-superintendent was tarred with the same stick.

After this incident, Challoner cultivated a habit of strolling into the offices of the various dealers in the city.

”What are the proper concrete proportions?” was his request in all of them.

Charts were taken out and consulted. There was no difference of opinion: all agreed that the head-superintendent's figures were out of the way, and by one barrel of cement.

Graft! There was no doubt about it in his mind; and he proceeded to figure out just where the trouble lay. On that department-store job there were several mixers. On every mixing the head-superintendent made one barrel of cement. There were several foremen. On every individual mixing, the foremen, severally, made two barrels of cement. In every mixing three barrels of cement were left out.

”But what about the _wall_?” Challoner asked himself when once more alone.

And so it came about that he found that in this business, of all businesses, there was a chance for an honest man. After a little while, he found another job--still at two dollars a day. It was beginning once more at the bottom, and working up, yet he did it. But the instant he had worked up, he was again confronted with a similar situation. It was a question of ”shut up or get out!” Gradually, it is true, the burden of the song of these men s.h.i.+fted slightly, and became, ”Come in with us, or keep silent.”

A few more experiences of this sort, and it was given to Challoner to perceive that he had knowledge of these things in advance of the general public. People looked upon concrete as something marvellous. The agitation among the construction men, the newspaper accounts about its cheapness, together with the wonderful results obtained by its use in other cities, all combined to dazzle owners about to build.

From day to day, Challoner could see the demand for concrete increasing.