Jack Norths Treasure Hunt | Page 4

a pair of wheels, one of which was of iron and weighed over four hundred pounds, while its mate was made of wood and finished off to look exactly like its companion. The workman in the secret always looked out and got hold of the wooden wheel, which he could carry off with ease, while his duped associate would struggle over the other to the unbounded amusement of the lookers-on.
It heightened the effect by selecting a small, weak man to help in the deception, and Henshaw, liking this joke no less than his men, on the third day of Jack's apprenticeship, said:
"North, you and Mires bring along them wheels at the lower end. Don't be all day about it either," speaking with unusual sharpness.
"Yes, sir."
In a moment every one present was watching the scene, beginning to smile as they saw Mires start with suspicious alacrity toward the wheels. Some of the men, in order to get as good a view as possible of the expected exhibition, stationed themselves near at hand, having hard work to suppress their merriment in advance.
"Purty stout, air ye?" asked Mires, as he and Jack stood by the wheels.
"I never boasted of my strength," replied Jack, beginning to wonder why so much interest was being manifested over so slight a matter. His surprise was increased at that moment by discovering Fret Offut among the spectators, his big mouth reaching almost from ear to ear with an idiotic grin.
"Come to see the fun!" declared the latter, finding that he had been seen by Jack.
"I'll take this one," said Mires, stooping over the nearest wheel which was half buried in dust and dirt.
Then, without any apparent effort, the small sized workman raised the wheel to his shoulder and walked back from the direction whence they had come.
"Now see the big gawk lift his!" exclaimed Fret Offut, who had somehow been let into the secret. Still ignorant of the deception being played upon him, Jack North bent over to lift the remaining wheel.
Chapter III
A Long Trip Proposed

Having seen Mires carry off the other wheel with comparative ease, Jack naturally expected to lift the remaining one without trouble.
His amazement may be therefore understood when, at his first effort, he failed to move it an inch from the floor.
It lay there as solid as if bound down!
His failure was the signal for Fret Offut to break out into a loud laugh, which was instantly caught up by the workmen, until the whole building rang with the merriment.
"Baby!" some one cried. "See Mires carry his. North ain't got the strength of a mouse!"
By that time Mires had reached the opposite end of the shop, and was putting down his burden to turn and join in the outbursts over the discomfiture of his young companion.
Jack had now awakened to the realization that he had been the easy victim of a scheme to cast ridicule upon him.
Mires could never have carried away this wheel. The thought of the trick which had been played upon him aroused all the latent energy he possessed. He did not believe the wheel could weigh five hundred pounds, and if it did not he would lift it, as he believed he could.
Thus, with the shouts and laughter of the spectators ringing in his ears, Jack stooped for a second attempt to accomplish what no one else had ever been able to do.
"I'll grunt for you!" called Offut in derision. "Spit on your hands!" said a workman. Jack compressed his lips for a mighty effort, and his hands closed on the rim of the wheel, while he concentrated every atom of strength he had for the herculean task.
The cries of the onlookers suddenly stopped as they saw, to their amazement, the ponderous object rise from the floor, slowly but surely, until the young workman held it abreast of him. Not a sound broke the deathlike stillness, save for the crunching of his own footsteps, as Jack North walked across the shop and dropped his burden upon the wheel Mires had placed there.
A loud crash succeeded, the heavy iron wheel having broken the imitation into kindling wood and smashed into the floor.
The cries of derision were supplemented by loud calls of admiration, which rang through and through the old building until a perfect din prevailed.
Fret Offut waited to see no more, but stole away unobserved by the stalwart iron workers, who crowded around their victorious companion with hearty congratulations. Jack had won the friendship of nearly all by his feat, while Henshaw at once boasted of the act.
Mires, fancying that the laugh had been turned upon him, and he was about right, allowed all of the bitterness of his sullen nature to be turned against the young apprentice. In his wicked heart he vowed he would humiliate Jack in the eyes