"I'm glad to hear you defend her, Jack," Mr. Gandiss said quietly. "Certainly no action will be taken without far more conclusive evidence. Now suppose you and Penny amuse yourselves for a few minutes. Mr. Parker and I have a few business matters to discuss."
Thus dismissed, Penny and Jack wandered outside.
"Want to see the steel plant?" Jack asked indifferently. "They should be pouring about this time."
At Penny's eager assent, he led her to another building, up a steep flight of iron stairs to an inner balcony which overlooked the huge blast furnaces. In the noisy, hot room, conversation was practically impossible.
Gazing below, Penny saw a crew of men in front of one of the furnaces, cleaning the tapping hole with a long rod.
In a moment a signal was given and the molten steel was poured into a ladle capable of holding a hundred and fifty tons. An overhead crane, operated by a skilled worker, lifted the huge container to the pouring platform.
Next the molten mass was turned into rectangular ingots or molds.
"The steel will cool for about an hour before it is ready to be taken from the mold," Jack shouted in Penny's ear.
Moving on, they saw other ingots already cooled, and in a stripping shed observed cranes with huge tongs engage the lugs of the molds and lift them from the ingots.
"Each one of those ingots weighs twenty thousand pounds," Jack said, surprising Penny with his knowledge. "After stripping, they are placed in gas-heated pit furnaces and brought to rolling temperature."
To see fiery ribbons of steel rolled from cherry red ingots was to Penny the most fascinating process of all. She could have watched for hours, but Jack, bored by the familiar sight, kept urging her on.
Leaving the steel plant, they returned to the main factory buildings, and without thinking, sauntered toward the room where Sally worked. A portable lunch cart had just supplied hot soup and sandwiches to the employes. Sally sat eating at her machine. Seeing Jack, she quickly looked away.
"Now she's really sore at me, and I can't blame her," Jack commented. "Who is Joe the Sweeper anyhow? Riff-raff, I'll warrant."
Though somewhat amused by the boy's staunch defense of Sally, Penny was inclined to agree in his second observation. Although she knew nothing of the man who had turned informer, she had not liked the sly look of his face.
Before the pair could approach Sally, the brief lunch period came to an end. A whistle blew, sending the girls back to their machines.
"You'll have to step on it," a foreman told Sally. "You're behind in your quota."
Her reply was inaudible, but as she adjusted her machine and started it up, she began to work with nervous haste.
"This is no place for Sally," Jack said, obviously bothered. "She never was cut out for factory work. And that foreman, Rogers, who is over her! He's a regular slave driver!"
"I thought you didn't like Sally," Penny teased.
"I want to see her get a square deal, that's all," Jack replied, his face flushing.
Joe the Sweeper sidled over to the couple. "What's the verdict?" he asked in a confidential tone.
Jack pretended not to understand.
"Is the gal going to get fired?"
"I'm sure I don't know," Jack answered coldly. "Why does it mean so much to you?"
"Why, it don't," the sweeper muttered. "She ain't no skin off my elbow."
Penny and Jack walked on through the workroom, aware that many pairs of eyes followed them. Sally, bending over a grinding machine, looked up self-consciously. She was grinding pieces of metal, measuring each with a micrometer. There was a streak of grease across her cheek and she looked very tired.
Suddenly as Sally threw the wheel in, there was a loud clattering noise. The foreman came running. He threw the wheel back.
"What did I do?" Sally gasped, shaking from nervousness.
"You forgot to pull this lever." The foreman said curtly. "Ruined a piece of work too! Now try to think what you're doing and get down to business."
Penny and Jack moved away, not wishing to add to the girl's embarrassment. But a few minutes later, in leaving the workroom, they again passed close to Sally's machine. This time she did not see them until they were almost beside her.
"How is it going, Sally?" Jack asked in a friendly way.
