d
in order to have Hoeflinger, who did not seem to be in a hurry, catch up
with him. Whenever he saw people on the road he tooted violently, while
Hoeflinger tinkled his little bell. When workingmen greeted Hoeflinger,
Pratteler responded with sombre mien, as if he were going to a
battle. When they made a joke, his brow contracted in a frown. What
was there to jest and laugh at, where they should rise in revolt
against reaction? Everywhere he saw too much peaceful comfort. He was
determined to infuse a new spirit into the life in this valley.
After the last turn in the road the factory buildings came in sight.
Pratteler saw a whole crowd of flues and chimneys in full activity.
Behind the iron-works were the woods, almost entirely firs, with only a
few beeches between. The water power of the brook which came tumbling
out of the forest was used partly for the lighting plant, partly for
the works themselves. When Hoeflinger and his new boarder and
fellow-workman rode into the factory courts, they joined a host of
other cyclists, and Pratteler's red necktie stood out significantly.
Somebody asked Hoeflinger whether he had caught Garibaldi, and all who
heard the remark began to laugh, while Pratteler frowned in silence.

When the siren gave the signal to begin work, Hoeflinger saw that the
newcomer made a good start; and the experience he had had with zealous
beginners gave him reason to anticipate that the Swiss youth would
become a good workman. So his relation to Pratteler assumed a pleasant
form. Like a priest Hoeflinger served the wheezing and squealing idol
which daily swung its high flaming face about itself. Pratteler only
picked its teeth and wiped its mouth. His task was not without danger;
of three machinists that did the work, one was sure sometime to be
carried from his place with maimed limbs or dead. The idol had neither
brain nor eyes, and he who served it had to be doubly on his guard.
Loaded carts came rolling along tracks and stopped automatically.
Pratteler manipulated the crane which seized the iron bars and laid
them at the feet of the idol. Then a claw would project itself and draw
the bar toward the revolving teeth. The bar cried out like a beast.
Behind the disk a whirlpool of fire was set free. The idol screamed and
screeched. At the end it whistled, and when it was done, it rang a
bell. Then the fragments that had dropped behind were automatically
removed and the claw reached out for its next work.