ir.

The unlucky Peter, who was vainly trying to flatten himself against the
wall and hide in Nat's shadow, was dragged forth by Carmachel and made
to stand upon a table, from which elevation he waved his hand to the men
and then, ducking suddenly, buried himself once more in the crowd.

After waiting a little while for the tumult to subside Mr. Coddington
again began to speak--this time in a low, uncertain voice:

"I see you all recognize the portrait. It is Peter Strong as you have
met and known him. Yet we can never tell what the future will unfold. If
it chanced that time should bring to this lad a career fraught with
greater responsibilities than he now holds I want you to remember that
he came into the works a boy, like many of you; that he was one with you
in play as well as in work; that he toiled at the hardest tasks, never
shunning what was difficult or disagreeable; that he was, is, and I hope
will always be, your comrade--the product of the Coddington tanneries."

With a bow and a smile to the silent crowd before him the president
withdrew. Then as the workmen turned to disperse a few clear words from
some one in the throng behind caught Peter's ear:

"It's more than likely the president means to push Strong along to the
top of the ladder. He is mightily interested in the boy; anybody can see
that. Mayhap the lad will make up to him for his own son who, I've heard
say, is a lazy little snob and a great disappointment to his father."

[Illustration]

CHAPTER X

THE CLIMB BECOMES DIFFICULT

It would not have been strange if with all this adulation Peter had come
to think himself a very clever boy--perhaps the cleverest one in the
world. Fortunately for his modesty, however, his daily life did not tend
to foster any such delusion. He received occasional commendation, it is
true, from his superiors, but to counterbalance it he continued to have
many a rebuke thrown at him during the year he and Nat toiled together
tanning hides. The newness of the work combined with a score of
well-meant blunders placed Peter Strong on entirely equal footing
with other workmen, and quite as liable to correction. Even had these
conditions been otherwise the memory of the lazy little snob who was a
great disappointment to his father would have served to crush in the lad
any undue sense of his own importance. Considering the popular rating of
Peter Coddington it certainly was just as well that he had entered the
w