Latest / The H. G. Wells Library / The Country of the Blind and Other Stories - The Cone

Transcript

The Country of the Blind and Other Stories - The Cone · The H. G. Wells Library

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Section two of the Country of the Blind and Other
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: Stories by H. G. Wells. This LibriVox recording is in
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: the public domain. Read by Peter Yearsley the Cone, the
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: night was hot and overcast, the sky red rimmed with
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: the lingering sunset of midsummer. They sat at the open window,
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: trying to fancy the air was fresher. There. The trees
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: and shrubs of the garden stood stiff and dark. Beyond,
• 0:31
  Speaker 1: in the roadway a gas lamp burnt bright orange against
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: the hazy blue of the evening father, where the three
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: lights of the railway signal against the lowering sky. The
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: man and woman spoke to one another in low tones.
• 0:45
  Speaker 1: He does not, suspect, said the man, a little nervously.
• 0:49
  Speaker 1: Not he, she said, peevishly, as though that too irritated her.
• 0:54
  Speaker 1: He thinks of nothing but the works and the prices
• 0:57
  Speaker 1: of fuel. He has no imagination, no poetry. None of
• 1:02
  Speaker 1: these men of iron have he said sententiously. They have
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: no hearts. He has not, she said. She turned her
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: discontented face towards the window. The distant sound of a
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: roaring and rushing drew nearer and grew in volume. The
• 1:19
  Speaker 1: house quivered. One heard the metallic rattle of the tender.
• 1:23
  Speaker 1: As the train passed, there was a glare of light
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: above the cutting, and a driving tumult of smoke. One, two, three, four, five, six, seven,
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: eight black oblongs. Eight trucks passed across the dim gray
• 1:38
  Speaker 1: of the embankment, and were suddenly extinguished one by one
• 1:42
  Speaker 1: in the throat of the tunnel, which with the last
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: seemed to swallow down train, smoke and sound in one
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: abrupt gulp. This country was all fresh and beautiful once,
• 1:56
  Speaker 1: he said, and now it is Gehenna, nothing but pot
• 2:01
  Speaker 1: banks and chimneys, belching fire and dust into the face
• 2:05
  Speaker 1: of heaven. But what does it matter? An end comes,
• 2:09
  Speaker 1: an end to all this cruelty. To morrow, he spoke,
• 2:13
  Speaker 1: the last word, in a whisper. To morrow, she said,
• 2:17
  Speaker 1: speaking in a whisper, too, and still staring out of
• 2:21
  Speaker 1: the window. Dear, he said, putting his hand on hers.
• 2:26
  Speaker 1: She turned with a start, and their eyes searched one another's.
• 2:31
  Speaker 1: Hers softened to his gaze, My dear one, she said,
• 2:36
  Speaker 1: And then it seems so strange that you should have
• 2:40
  Speaker 1: come into my life like this. To open, she paused,
• 2:45
  Speaker 1: to open, he said, all this wonderful world, she hesitated
• 2:51
  Speaker 1: and spoke still more softly, this world of love to me.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: Then suddenly the door clicked and closed. They turned their heads,
• 3:00
  Speaker 1: and he started violently. Back. In the shadow of the
• 3:04
  Speaker 1: room stood a great, shadowy figure, silent. They saw the
• 3:08
  Speaker 1: face dimly in the half light, with unexpressive dark patches
• 3:13
  Speaker 1: under the penthouse brows. Every muscle in Rout's body suddenly
• 3:18
  Speaker 1: became tense. When could the door have opened? What had
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: he heard? Had he heard all? What had he seen?
• 3:25
  Speaker 1: A tumult of questions. The newcomer's voice came at last,
• 3:30
  Speaker 1: after a pause that seemed interminable. Well, he said, I
• 3:35
  Speaker 1: was afraid I had missed you. Horrocks, said the man
• 3:38
  Speaker 1: at the window, gripping the window ledge with his hand.
• 3:41
  Speaker 1: His voice was unsteady. The clumsy figure of Horrocks came
• 3:46
  Speaker 1: forward out of the shadow. He made no answer to
• 3:49
  Speaker 1: Rout's remark. For a moment he stood above them. The
• 3:53
  Speaker 1: woman's heart was cold within her. I told mister Rout,
• 3:57
  Speaker 1: it was just possible you might come back, she said,
• 4:00
  Speaker 1: in a voice that never quivered. Horrocks, still silent, sat
• 4:05
  Speaker 1: down abruptly in the chair by her little work table.
• 4:08
  Speaker 1: His big hands were clenched. One saw now the fire
• 4:12
  Speaker 1: of his eyes under the shadow of his brows. He
• 4:15
  Speaker 1: was trying to get his breath. His eyes went from
• 4:18
  Speaker 1: the woman he had trusted to the friend he had trusted,
• 4:22
  Speaker 1: and then back to the woman. By this time and
• 4:26
  Speaker 1: for the moment, all three half understood one another. Yet
• 4:31
  Speaker 1: none dared say a word to ease the pent up
• 4:34
  Speaker 1: things that choked them. It was the husband's voice that
• 4:38
  Speaker 1: broke the silence. At last, you wanted to see me,
• 4:42
  Speaker 1: he said to Rout. Root started as he spoke. I
• 4:45
  Speaker 1: came to see you, he said, resolved to lie to
• 4:48
  Speaker 1: the last, Yes, said Horrocks. You promised, said Rout, to
• 4:54
  Speaker 1: show me some fine effects of moonlight and smoke. I
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: promised to show you some fine effect of moonlight and smoke,
• 5:01
  Speaker 1: repeated Horrocks, in a colorless voice. And I thought I
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: might catch you to night before you went down to
• 5:08
  Speaker 1: the works, proceeded Rout, and come with you. There was
• 5:12
  Speaker 1: another pause. Did the man mean to take the thing coolly?
• 5:16
  Speaker 1: Did he, after all, know how long had he been
• 5:20
  Speaker 1: in the room. Yet, even at the moment when they
• 5:23
  Speaker 1: heard the door their attitudes. Horrocks glanced at the profile
• 5:29
  Speaker 1: of the woman shadowy pallid in the half light. Then
• 5:32
  Speaker 1: he glanced at Rout and seemed to recover himself. Suddenly,
• 5:36
  Speaker 1: of course, he said, I promised to show you the
• 5:39
  Speaker 1: works under their proper dramatic conditions. It's odd how I
• 5:43
  Speaker 1: could have forgotten. If I am troubling you, began Rout.
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: Horrocks started again. A new light had suddenly come into
• 5:51
  Speaker 1: the sultry gloom of his eyes. Not in the least,
• 5:54
  Speaker 1: he said. Have you been telling, mister Rout, of all
• 5:58
  Speaker 1: these contrasts of flame shadow? You think so splendid? Said
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: the woman, turning now to her husband for the first time,
• 6:06
  Speaker 1: her confidence creeping back again, her voice just one half
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: note too high. That dreadful theory of yours, that machinery
• 6:15
  Speaker 1: is beautiful, and everything else in the world ugly. I
• 6:19
  Speaker 1: thought he would not spare you, mister Rout. It's his
• 6:22
  Speaker 1: great theory. He's one discovery in art. I am slow
• 6:27
  Speaker 1: to make discoveries, said Horrocks, grimly, damping her suddenly. But
• 6:33
  Speaker 1: what I discover? He stopped well, she said nothing, and
• 6:38
  Speaker 1: suddenly he rose to his feet. I promised to show
• 6:41
  Speaker 1: you the works, he said to Rout, and put his big,
• 6:45
  Speaker 1: clumsy hand on his friend's shoulder. And you are ready
• 6:49
  Speaker 1: to go quite, said Rout, and stood up. Also there
• 6:54
  Speaker 1: was another pause. Each of them peered through the indistinctness
• 6:58
  Speaker 1: of the dusk at the other two. Horrocks's hand still
• 7:02
  Speaker 1: rested on Ralt's shoulder. Raut half fancied still that the
• 7:06
  Speaker 1: incident was trivial after all. But Missus Horrocks knew her
• 7:11
  Speaker 1: husband better knew that grim quiet in his voice and
• 7:16
  Speaker 1: the confusion in her mind took a vague shape of
• 7:19
  Speaker 1: physical evil. Very well, said Horrocks, and, dropping his hand,
• 7:25
  Speaker 1: turned towards the door. My hat, Raut looked round in
• 7:29
  Speaker 1: the half light. That's my work basket, said Missus Horrocks,
• 7:34
  Speaker 1: with a gust of hysterical laughter. Their hands came together
• 7:38
  Speaker 1: on the back of the chair. Here it is, he said.
• 7:42
  Speaker 1: She had an impulse to warn him in an undertone,
• 7:45
  Speaker 1: but she could not frame a word. Don't go and
• 7:50
  Speaker 1: beware of him, struggled in her mind, and the swift
• 7:53
  Speaker 1: moment passed. Got it, said Horocks. Standing with the door
• 7:58
  Speaker 1: half open, Rout stepped towards him. Better say good bye
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: to Missus Horrocks, said the iron master, even more grimly,
• 8:08
  Speaker 1: quiet in his tone than before. Rout started and turned
• 8:12
  Speaker 1: good evening, missus Horrocks, he said, and their hands touched.
• 8:17
  Speaker 1: Horrocks held the door open, with a ceremonial politeness unusual
• 8:22
  Speaker 1: in him towards men. Rout went out, and then, after
• 8:27
  Speaker 1: a wordless look at her, her husband followed. She stood
• 8:31
  Speaker 1: motionless while Rout's light footfall and her husband's heavy tread
• 8:37
  Speaker 1: like base and treble passed down the passage together. The
• 8:42
  Speaker 1: front door slammed heavily. She went to the window, moving slowly,
• 8:47
  Speaker 1: and stood watching, leaning forward. The two men appeared for
• 8:52
  Speaker 1: a moment at the gateway in the road, passed under
• 8:55
  Speaker 1: the street lamp, and were hidden by the black masses
• 8:58
  Speaker 1: of the shrubbery. The lamp light fell for a moment
• 9:01
  Speaker 1: on their faces, showing only unmeaning pale patches, telling nothing
• 9:06
  Speaker 1: of what she still feared and doubted and craved vainly
• 9:11
  Speaker 1: to know. Then she sank down into a crouching attitude
• 9:15
  Speaker 1: in the big arm chair, her eyes wide open and
• 9:19
  Speaker 1: staring out at the red lights from the furnaces that
• 9:22
  Speaker 1: flickered in the sky. An hour after she was still there,
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: her attitude scarcely changed. The oppressive stillness of the evening
• 9:34
  Speaker 1: weighed heavily upon route. They went side by side down
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: the road in silence, and in silence turned into the
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: cinder made byway that presently opened out the prospect of
• 9:46
  Speaker 1: the valley. A blue haze, half dust, half mist, touched
• 9:51
  Speaker 1: the long valley with mystery. Beyond were Hanley and Etruria,
• 9:56
  Speaker 1: gray and dark masses, outlined thinly by the rare gold
• 10:00
  Speaker 1: golden dots of the street lamps, And here and there
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: a gas lit window or the yellow glere of some
• 10:06
  Speaker 1: late working factory or crowded public house. Out of the masses,
• 10:11
  Speaker 1: clear and slender against the evening sky, rose a multitude
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: of tall chimneys, many of them reeking, a few smokeless
• 10:20
  Speaker 1: during a season of play. Here and there a pallid
• 10:24
  Speaker 1: patch and ghostly stunted beehive shapes showed the position of
• 10:29
  Speaker 1: a pot bank or a wheel. Black and sharp against
• 10:33
  Speaker 1: the hot lower sky marked some colliery, where they raised
• 10:37
  Speaker 1: the iridescent coal of the place. Nearer at hand was
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: the broad stretch of railway, and half invisible trains shunted
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: a steady puffing and rumbling with every run, a ringing
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: concussion and a rhythmic series of impacts, and a passage
• 10:55
  Speaker 1: of intermittent puffs of white steam across the further view
• 11:00
  Speaker 1: to the left, between the railway and the dark mass
• 11:03
  Speaker 1: of the low hill beyond. Dominating the whole view, colossal, inky, black,
• 11:09
  Speaker 1: and crowned with smoke and fitful flames, stood the great
• 11:14
  Speaker 1: cylinders of the Jedder Company blast furnaces, the central edifices
• 11:20
  Speaker 1: of the great iron works of which Horrocks was the manager.
• 11:24
  Speaker 1: They stood heavy and threatening, full of an incessant turmoil
• 11:29
  Speaker 1: of flames and seething molten iron. And about the feet
• 11:33
  Speaker 1: of them rattled the rolling mills, and the steam hammer
• 11:38
  Speaker 1: beat heavily and splashed the white iron sparks hither and thither.
• 11:42
  Speaker 1: Even as they looked, a truckful of fuel was shot
• 11:46
  Speaker 1: into one of the giants, and the red flames gleamed out,
• 11:50
  Speaker 1: and a confusion of smoke and black dust came boiling
• 11:53
  Speaker 1: upwards towards the sky. Certainly, you get some color with
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: your furnaces, said Rout, breaking a silence that had become apprehensive.
• 12:03
  Speaker 1: Horrocks grunted. He stood with his hands in his pockets,
• 12:07
  Speaker 1: frowning down at the dim, steaming railway and the busy
• 12:11
  Speaker 1: iron works beyond, frowning as if he were thinking out
• 12:15
  Speaker 1: some knotty problem. Rout glanced at him and away again.
• 12:20
  Speaker 1: At present, your moonlight effect is hardly ripe, he continued,
• 12:25
  Speaker 1: looking upward. The moon is still smothered by the vestiges
• 12:28
  Speaker 1: of daylight. Horrocks stared at him with the expression of
• 12:32
  Speaker 1: a man who has suddenly awakened vestiges of daylight. Of course,
• 12:37
  Speaker 1: of course, he too looked up at the moon, pale
• 12:41
  Speaker 1: still in the midsummer sky. Come along, he said, suddenly,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: and gripping Rout's arm in his hand, made a move
• 12:48
  Speaker 1: towards the path that dropped from them to the railway.
• 12:53
  Speaker 1: Rout hung back. Their eyes met and saw a thousand
• 12:57
  Speaker 1: things in a moment that their lips came near to say.
• 13:02
  Speaker 1: Horrock's hand tightened and then relaxed. He let go, and
• 13:07
  Speaker 1: before Rout was aware of it, they were arm in
• 13:10
  Speaker 1: arm and walking one unwillingly enough down the path. You
• 13:16
  Speaker 1: see the fine effect of the railway's signals towards Burslem,
• 13:20
  Speaker 1: said Horrocks, suddenly, breaking into loquacity, striding fast and tightening
• 13:26
  Speaker 1: the grip of his elbow. The while little green lights
• 13:29
  Speaker 1: and red and white lights all against the haze. You've
• 13:33
  Speaker 1: an eye for effect, Rout. It's fine. And look at
• 13:37
  Speaker 1: those furnaces of mine, how they rise upon us as
• 13:41
  Speaker 1: we come down the hill. That to the right is
• 13:44
  Speaker 1: my pet, seventy feet of him. I packed him myself,
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: and he's boiled away cheerfully with the iron in his
• 13:51
  Speaker 1: guts for five long years. I've a particular fancy for him.
• 13:56
  Speaker 1: That line of red there, a lovely bit of warm orange,
• 14:00
  Speaker 1: you'd call it Rout. That's the puddler's furnaces. And there
• 14:04
  Speaker 1: in the hot light, did you see the white splash
• 14:07
  Speaker 1: of the steam hammer. Then that's the rolling mills. Come along, clang, clatter,
• 14:13
  Speaker 1: How it goes rattling across the floor sheets in Rout.
• 14:17
  Speaker 1: Amazing stuff. Glass mirrors are not in it. When that
• 14:21
  Speaker 1: stuff comes from the mill, and squelch. There goes the
• 14:24
  Speaker 1: hammer again. Come along. He had to stop talking to
• 14:28
  Speaker 1: catch at his breath. His arm twisted into Routs with
• 14:32
  Speaker 1: benumbing tightness. He had come striding down the black path
• 14:36
  Speaker 1: towards the railway as though he was possessed. Rout had
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: not spoken a word, had simply hung back against Horrock's
• 14:44
  Speaker 1: pool with all his strength. I say he said now,
• 14:49
  Speaker 1: laughing nervously, but with an undertone of snarl in his voice.
• 14:54
  Speaker 1: Why on earth are you nipping my arm off, Horrocks
• 14:57
  Speaker 1: and dragging me along like this? At length Horrocks released him,
• 15:01
  Speaker 1: his manner changed again, nipping your arm off? He said, sorry,
• 15:06
  Speaker 1: but it's you taught me the trick of walking in
• 15:09
  Speaker 1: that friendly way. You haven't learnt the refinements of it yet, then,
• 15:13
  Speaker 1: said Rout, laughing artificially again. By Jove, I'm black and blue.
• 15:19
  Speaker 1: Horrocks offered no apology. They stood now near the bottom
• 15:23
  Speaker 1: of the hill, close to the fence that bordered the railway.
• 15:27
  Speaker 1: The iron works had grown larger and spread out with
• 15:29
  Speaker 1: their approach. They looked up to the blast furnaces now
• 15:34
  Speaker 1: instead of down. The further view of Vitruria and Hanley
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: had dropped out of sight with their descent. Before them,
• 15:41
  Speaker 1: by the style rose a notice board bearing, still dimly visible,
• 15:46
  Speaker 1: the words beware of the trains, half hidden by splashes
• 15:50
  Speaker 1: of coally mud fine effects, said Horrocks, waving his arm.
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: Here comes a train, the puffs of smoke, the orange glare,
• 16:00
  Speaker 1: the round eye of light in front of it, the
• 16:03
  Speaker 1: melodious rattle. Fine effects But these furnaces of mine used
• 16:08
  Speaker 1: to be finer before we shoved cones in their throats
• 16:11
  Speaker 1: and saved the gas. How said Rout, Cones, cones, my man, cones.
• 16:19
  Speaker 1: I'll show you one nearer. The flames used to flare
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: out of the open throats. Great, what is it? Pillars
• 16:25
  Speaker 1: of cloud by day, red and black smoke, and pillars
• 16:29
  Speaker 1: of fire by night. Now we run it off in
• 16:32
  Speaker 1: pipes and burn it to heat the blast, and the
• 16:35
  Speaker 1: top is shut by a cone. You'll be interested in
• 16:38
  Speaker 1: that cone. But every now and then, said Rout, you
• 16:42
  Speaker 1: get a burst of fire and smoke up there. The
• 16:45
  Speaker 1: cones not fixed. It's hung by a chain from a
• 16:48
  Speaker 1: lever and balanced by an equipoise. You shall see it nearer. Else,
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: of course there'd be no way of getting fuel into
• 16:55
  Speaker 1: the thing. Every now and then the cone dips and
• 16:59
  Speaker 1: out comes the flare. I see, said Rout. He looked
• 17:03
  Speaker 1: over his shoulder. The moon gets brighter, he said. Come along,
• 17:08
  Speaker 1: said Horrocks, abruptly, gripping his shoulder again and moving him
• 17:13
  Speaker 1: suddenly towards the railway crossing. And then came one of
• 17:17
  Speaker 1: those swift incidents, vivid but so rapid that they leave
• 17:20
  Speaker 1: one doubtful, and reeling half way across, Horrocks's hand suddenly
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: clenched upon him like a vise and swung him backward,
• 17:28
  Speaker 1: and threw a half turn so that he looked up
• 17:31
  Speaker 1: the line, and there a chain of lamp lit carriage
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: windows telescoped swiftly as it came towards them, and the
• 17:37
  Speaker 1: red and yellow lights of an engine grew larger and larger,
• 17:41
  Speaker 1: rushing down upon them. As he grasped what this meant,
• 17:44
  Speaker 1: he turned his face to Horrocks and pushed with all
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: his strength against the arm that held him back between
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: the rails. The struggle did not last a moment. Just
• 17:54
  Speaker 1: as certain as it was that Horocks held him there,
• 17:57
  Speaker 1: so certain was it that he had been violent lugged
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: out of danger. Out of the way, said Horrocks, with
• 18:03
  Speaker 1: a gasp, as the train came rattling by, and they
• 18:07
  Speaker 1: stood panting by the gate into the iron works. I
• 18:11
  Speaker 1: did not see it coming, said Rout, still, even in
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: spite of his own apprehensions, trying to keep up an
• 18:18
  Speaker 1: appearance of ordinary intercourse. Horrocks answered with a grunt. The cone,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: he said, And then, as one who recovers himself, I
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: thought you did not hear. I didn't, said Rout. I
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: wouldn't have had you run over then, for the world,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: said Horrocks. For a moment, I lost my nerve, said Rout.
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: Horrocks stood for half a minute, then turned abruptly towards
• 18:45
  Speaker 1: the iron works again. See how fine these great mounds
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: of mine, these clinger heaps. Look in the night that
• 18:53
  Speaker 1: truck yonder up above there, Up it goes and out
• 18:57
  Speaker 1: tilts the slag. See the palpitating red stuff go sliding
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: down the slope. As we get nearer, the heap rises
• 19:06
  Speaker 1: up and cuts the blast furnaces. See the quiver up
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: above the big one. Not that way, this way between
• 19:13
  Speaker 1: the heaps, that goes to the puddling furnaces. But I
• 19:16
  Speaker 1: wanted to show you the canal first. He came and
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: took Rout by the elbow, and so they went along
• 19:23
  Speaker 1: side by side. Rout answered Horrocks vaguely what he asked himself.
• 19:29
  Speaker 1: Had really happened on the line? Was he deluding himself
• 19:33
  Speaker 1: with his own fancies? Or had Horrocks actually held him
• 19:37
  Speaker 1: back in the way of the train. Had he just
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: been within an ace of being murdered? Suppose this slouching
• 19:45
  Speaker 1: scowling monster did know anything. For a minute or two,
• 19:49
  Speaker 1: then Rout was really afraid for his life. But the
• 19:53
  Speaker 1: mood passed as he reasoned with himself. After all, Horrocks
• 19:57
  Speaker 1: might have heard nothing at any rate, he had pulled
• 20:00
  Speaker 1: him out of the way in time. His odd manner
• 20:03
  Speaker 1: might be due to the mere vague jealousy he had
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: shown once before. He was talking now of the ash
• 20:10
  Speaker 1: heaps and the canal, Ah, said Horrocks, What said Rout?
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: Rather the haze in the moonlight, fine our canal, said Horrocks,
• 20:22
  Speaker 1: stopping suddenly. Har canal by moonlight and firelight is immense.
• 20:28
  Speaker 1: You've never seen it. Fancy that you've spent too many
• 20:31
  Speaker 1: of your evening's philandering up in Newcastle. There, I tell you,
• 20:36
  Speaker 1: for real florid quality. But you shall see boiling water.
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: As they came out of the labyrinth of clinker heaps
• 20:45
  Speaker 1: and mounds of coal and owe, the noises of the
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: rolling mill sprang upon them, suddenly loud, near and distinct.
• 20:53
  Speaker 1: Three shadowy workmen went by and touched their caps to Horrocks.
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: Their faces were vague in the darkness. Rout felt a
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: futile impulse to address them, and before he could frame
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: his words. They passed into the shadows. Horrocks pointed to
• 21:10
  Speaker 1: the canal close before them, now a weird looking place,
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: it seemed in the blood red reflections of the furnaces.
• 21:17
  Speaker 1: The hot water that cooled the twe air came into
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: it some fifty yards up, a tumultuous, almost boiling affluent,
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: and the steam rose up from the water in silent
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: white wisps and streaks, wrapping damply about them. An incessant
• 21:35
  Speaker 1: succession of ghosts coming up from the black and red eddies,
• 21:40
  Speaker 1: a white uprising that made the head swim. The shining
• 21:44
  Speaker 1: black tower of the larger blast furnace rose overhead out
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: of the mist, and its tumultuous riot filled their ears.
• 21:52
  Speaker 1: Rout kept away from the edge of the water and
• 21:56
  Speaker 1: watched Horrocks. Here it is red, said Horrocks, blood red vapor,
• 22:02
  Speaker 1: as red and hot as sin, but yonder there where
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: the moonlight falls on it, and it drives across the
• 22:09
  Speaker 1: clinker heaps. It is as white as death. Rout turned
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: his head for a moment, and then came back hastily
• 22:17
  Speaker 1: to his watch. On Horrocks. Come along to the rolling mills,
• 22:21
  Speaker 1: said Horrocks. The threatening hold was not so evident that time,
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: and Rout felt a little reassured. But all the same,
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: what unearth did Horrocks mean about white as death and
• 22:36
  Speaker 1: red as sin? Coincidence? Perhaps? They went and stood behind
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: the puddlers for a little while, and then through the
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: rolling mills, where, amidst an incessant din, the deliberate steam
• 22:49
  Speaker 1: hammer beat the juice out of the succulent iron, and
• 22:53
  Speaker 1: black half naked titans rushed the plastic bars like hot
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: sealing wax between the wheels. Come on, said Horrocks in
• 23:03
  Speaker 1: Rout's ear, And they went and peeped through the little
• 23:06
  Speaker 1: glass hole behind the twe air and saw the tumbled
• 23:09
  Speaker 1: fire writhing in the pit of the blast furnace. It
• 23:13
  Speaker 1: left one eye blinded for a while. Then, with green
• 23:17
  Speaker 1: and blue patches dancing across the dark, they went to
• 23:21
  Speaker 1: the lift by which the trucks of ore and fuel
• 23:24
  Speaker 1: and lime were raised to the top of the big
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: cylinder and out upon the narrow rail that overhung the furnace.
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Rout's doubts came upon him again. Was it wise to
• 23:36
  Speaker 1: be here? If Horrocks did know everything, do what he would,
• 23:41
  Speaker 1: he could not resist a violent trembling. Right under foot
• 23:46
  Speaker 1: was a sheer depth of seventy feet. It was a
• 23:49
  Speaker 1: dangerous place. They pushed by a truck of fuel to
• 23:53
  Speaker 1: get to the railing that crowned the thing. The reek
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: of the furnace, a sulfurous vapor streaked with pungent bitterness,
• 24:02
  Speaker 1: seemed to make the distant hillside of Hanley quiver. The
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: moon was riding out now from among a drift of
• 24:08
  Speaker 1: clouds half way up the sky, above the undulating wooded
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: outlines of Newcastle. The steaming canal ran away from below
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: them under an indistinct bridge, and vanished into the dim
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: haze of the flat fields towards Burstleam. That's the cone
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: I've been telling you of, shouted Horrocks, and below that
• 24:30
  Speaker 1: sixty feet of fire and molten metal, with the air
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: of the blast frothing through it like gas in soda water.
• 24:39
  Speaker 1: Rout gripped the hand rail tightly and stared down at
• 24:43
  Speaker 1: the cone. The heat was intense, The boiling of the
• 24:46
  Speaker 1: iron and the tumult of the blast made a thunderous
• 24:49
  Speaker 1: accompaniment to Horrock's voice. But the thing had to be
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: gone through now, perhaps after all, in the middle bald Horrocks.
• 24:59
  Speaker 1: Temperature near a thousand degrees. If you were dropped into it,
• 25:04
  Speaker 1: flash into flame like a pinch of gunpowder and a candle.
• 25:08
  Speaker 1: Put your hand out and feel the heat of his breath.
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Why even up here, I've seen the rain water boiling
• 25:14
  Speaker 1: off the trucks, and that cone there. It's a damp sight.
• 25:18
  Speaker 1: Too hot for roasting cakes. The top side of its
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: three hundred degrees. Three hundred degrees, said Rout, three hundred centigrade, mind,
• 25:29
  Speaker 1: said Horrocks. It will boil the blood out of you
• 25:31
  Speaker 1: in no time, eh, said Rout, and turned boil the
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: blood out of you in No, you don't let me go,
• 25:40
  Speaker 1: screamed Rout. Let go my arm. With one hand, he
• 25:44
  Speaker 1: clutched at the hand rail, then with both. For a
• 25:47
  Speaker 1: moment the two men stood swaying. Then suddenly, with a
• 25:51
  Speaker 1: violent jerk, Horrocks had twisted him from his hold. He
• 25:55
  Speaker 1: clutched at Horocs and missed. His foot went back into
• 25:58
  Speaker 1: empty air. In mid air, he twisted himself and then
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: cheek and shoulder and knee struck the hot cone. Together.
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: He clutched the chain by which the cone hung, and
• 26:10
  Speaker 1: the thing sank an infinitesimal amount. As he struck it,
• 26:14
  Speaker 1: a circle of glowing red appeared about him, and a
• 26:17
  Speaker 1: tongue of flame, released from the chaos within, flickered up
• 26:21
  Speaker 1: towards him. An intense pain assailed him at the knees,
• 26:25
  Speaker 1: and he could smell the singing of his hands. He
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: raised himself to his feet and tried to climb up
• 26:31
  Speaker 1: the chain, and then something struck his head. Black and
• 26:34
  Speaker 1: shining with the moonlight, the throat of the furnace rose
• 26:37
  Speaker 1: about him. Horrocks he saw stood above him by one
• 26:41
  Speaker 1: of the trucks of fuel on the rail. The gesticulating
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: figure was bright and white in the moonlight and shouting,
• 26:49
  Speaker 1: fizzle you fall, fizzle, you hunter of women, you hot
• 26:53
  Speaker 1: bloodied hound, Boil, boil boil. Suddenly he caught up a
• 26:59
  Speaker 1: handful of coal out of the truck and flung it deliberately,
• 27:03
  Speaker 1: lump after lump at rout, harruks, cried, rout, haruks. He clung,
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: crying to the chain, pulling himself up from the burning
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: of the cone. Each missile Horrocks flung hit him. His
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: clothes charred and glowed, and as he struggled, the cone
• 27:21
  Speaker 1: dropped and a rush of hot, suffocating gas whooped out
• 27:26
  Speaker 1: and burned round him in a swift breath of flame.
• 27:29
  Speaker 1: His human likeness departed from him. When the momentary red
• 27:35
  Speaker 1: had passed, Horrocks saw a charred, blackened figure, its head
• 27:40
  Speaker 1: streaked with blood, still clutching and fumbling with the chain
• 27:45
  Speaker 1: and writhing in agony, A sindery animal, an inhuman, monstrous
• 27:50
  Speaker 1: creature that began a sobbing, intermittent shriek abruptly at the sight.
• 27:56
  Speaker 1: The iron Master's anger passed, a deadly sickness came upon him.
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: The heavy odor of burning flesh came drifting up to
• 28:05
  Speaker 1: his nostrils. His sanity returned to him. God, have mercy
• 28:09
  Speaker 1: upon me, he cried, O, God, what have I done?
• 28:13
  Speaker 1: He knew the thing below him, save that it still moved,
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: and felt was already a dead man, that the blood
• 28:22
  Speaker 1: of the poor wretch must be boiling in his veins.
• 28:25
  Speaker 1: An intense realization of that agony came to his mind,
• 28:30
  Speaker 1: and overcame every other feeling. For a moment he stood irresolute,
• 28:35
  Speaker 1: and then, turning to the truck, he hastily tilted its
• 28:39
  Speaker 1: contents upon the struggling thing that had once been a man.
• 28:44
  Speaker 1: The mass fell with a thud and went radiating over
• 28:47
  Speaker 1: the cone. With the thud, the shriek ended, and a
• 28:50
  Speaker 1: boiling confusion of smoke, dust and flame came rushing up
• 28:55
  Speaker 1: towards him. As it passed, he saw the cone clear again.
• 29:00
  Speaker 1: Then he staggered back and stood trembling, clinging to the
• 29:04
  Speaker 1: rail with both hands. His lips moved, but no words
• 29:08
  Speaker 1: came to him. Down below was the sound of voices
• 29:12
  Speaker 1: and running steps. The clangor of rolling in the shed
• 29:16
  Speaker 1: ceased abruptly. End of Section two.