lly dirty job to be done but
what Dan was sent. He always obeyed but he used to slouch off with his
big red fist doubled up, muttering curses that brought out his brogue
at its best. Later on he confided in me what he was going to do to
that boss. If he had carried out his threats he would long since have
been electrocuted and I would have lost a good friend. Several times I
thought the two men were coming to blows but though Dan would have
dearly loved a fight and could have handled a dozen men like the
foreman, he always managed to control himself in time to avoid it.

"I don't wanter be after losin' me job for the dirthy spalpeen," he
growled to me.

But he came near it in a way he wasn't looking for later in the week.
It was Friday and half a dozen of us had been sent down to work on the
second level. It was damp and suffocating down there, fifty feet below
the street. I felt as though I had gone into the mines. I didn't like
it but I knew that there was just as much to learn here as above and
that it must all be learned eventually. The sides were braced with
heavy timbers like a mine shaft to prevent the dirt from falling in
and there was the constant danger that in spite of this it might cave
in. We went down by rough ladders made by nailing strips of board
across two pieces of joist and the work down there was back-breaking
and monotonous. We heaved the dirt into a big iron bucket lowered by
the hoisting engine above. It was heavy, wet soil that weighed like
lead.

From the beginning the men complained of headaches and one by one they
crawled up the ladder again for fresh air. Others were sent down but
at the end of an hour they too retreated. Dan and I stuck it out for a
while. Then I began to get dizzy myself. I didn't know what the
trouble was but when I began to wobble a bit Dan placed his hand on my
shoulder.

"Betther climb out o' here," he said. "I'm thinkin' it's gas."

At that time I didn't know what sewer gas was. I couldn't smell
anything and thought he must be mistaken.

"You'd better come too," I answered, making for the ladder.

He wasn't coming but I couldn't get up very well without him so he
followed along behind. At the top we found the foreman fighting mad
and trying to spur on another gang to go down. They wouldn't move.
When he saw us come up he turned upon Dan.

"Who ordered you out of there?" he growled.

"The gas," answered Dan.

"Gas be damned," shouted the foreman. "You're a