where all day they helped to operate the busy machinery. It was a
noisy, monotonous occupation; a stretch of dull, wearisome hours, and
frequently the boy and girl were so tired at night they had scarcely
energy to move. And yet they toiled at the humdrum task gratefully,
rejoicing in their wages which not only kept body and soul together but
provided for the feeble mother and the aged grandfather.

The past winter had been a hard one in Baileyville, the manufacturing
village where they lived. Most of the mills were running on half time
and many of the employes had been turned away for lack of work. In
consequence worry and uncertainty hung over everybody. Who would be the
next to go, they speculated. One never could predict where the axe
would fall, or be sure he might not be the victim elected to meet its
merciless stroke.

Thus far both Hal and Louise had been retained at their posts; but the
fear that some of the older operatives who had been longer in the
employ of the company might take precedence over them constantly
menaced their peace of mind.

Corcoran, the foreman under whom they worked, was a harsh, unreasonable
bully who rather enjoyed his post as executioner, authority having
exaggerated in him all the meannesses that lurked in his small,
vindictive nature. Only the week before, Hal, enraged by his
discourtesy and injustice to one of the women, had blurted out to his
face a rebuke for his roughness. It was, to be sure, an unwise act and
one that not only did the poor girl whose cause he championed little
good but jeopardized his own position; yet to save his soul he could
not have checked his indignation.

"You shouldn't have said it," declared Louise, who had been an
eyewitness of the encounter. "Of course I was proud of you as could be;
and you said nothing but what Corcoran deserved. Still it isn't safe to
do that sort of thing. It may lose you your job."

"I don't care if it does," returned Hal, whose rage had not yet cooled.
"Corcoran may fire me if he wants to. But he isn't going to bully any
girl as he bullied Susie Mayo--not when I'm round."

"But don't you see, dear; we can't afford to lose our jobs," continued
his sister gently. "Too much depends on our keeping them. We must have
the money."

"I'm not worrying," laughed Hal with confidence. "If Corcoran should
give me the sack I could get another place without any trouble, I'll
bet I could."

"Places are not so easy to find," asserted