He gazed down the long rows of the blast furnaces, great caverns
through the cracks of which the molten steel shone like lightning.
Here the men who worked had to have buckets of water poured over
them continually, and they drank several gallons of beer each day.
He went through the rail-mills, where the flaming white ingots were
caught by huge rollers, and tossed about like pancakes, and
flattened and squeezed, emerging at the other end in the shape of
tortured red snakes of amazing length. At the far end of the mill
one could see them laid out in long rows to cool; and as Montague
stood and watched them, the thought came to him that these were some
of the rails which Wyman had ordered, and which had been the cause
of such dismay in the camp of the Steel Trust!
Then he went on to the plate-mill, where giant hammers resounded,
and steel plates of several inches' thickness were chopped and
sliced like pieces of cheese. Here the spectator stared about him in
bewilderment and clung to his guide for safety; huge travelling
cranes groaned overhead, and infernal engines made deafening clatter
upon every side.
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