There was but little
opportunity to interrogate him through the morning hours: the flow of
coal through the chutes was too rapid and constant, and the grinding
and crunching of the rollers, and the rumbling and hammering of the
machinery, were too loud and incessant.
Ralph worked very diligently too; he was in the mood for work. He
was glad to be at home again and able to work. It was much better
than wandering through the streets of strange towns, without money
or friends. Nor were his hands and eyes less vigilant because of the
bright future that lay before him. He was so certain of the promised
luxuries, the beautiful home, the love of mother and sister, the means
for education,--so sure of them all that he felt he could well afford
to wait, and to work while waiting. This toil and poverty would last
but a few weeks, or a few months at the longest; after that there
would be a lifetime of pleasure and of peace and of satisfied
ambitions.
So hope nerved his muscles, and anticipation brought color to his
cheeks and fire to his eyes, and the thought of his mother's kiss
lent inspiration to his labor, and no boy that ever worked in Burnham
Breaker performed his task with more skill and diligence than he.
When the noon hour came the boys took their dinner-pails and ran down
out of the building and over on the hill-side, where they could lie on
the clean grass in the warm September sunshine, and eat and talk until
the bell should call them again to work.
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