an endless band. Behind this grille was an exhaust, which sucked away
the dust and countless atoms of vegetable matter scattered by Levi's
activities, and the running band from above worked it. For the
authorities, he despised, considered the operations of Mr. Baggs and
ordained that they should be conducted under healthy conditions.

He took his seat now before the rougher's hackle, turned up his shirt
sleeves over a pair of sinewy arms and powerful wrists and set to work.

From the mass of hemp tow he drew hanks and beat the pins with them
industriously, wrenched the mass through the steel teeth again and again
and separated the short fibre from the long. Presently in his hand
emerged a wisp of bright fibre, and now flogging the finer hackling
board, he extracted still more short stalks and rubbish till the
finished strick came clean and shining as a lock of woman's hair. From
the hanks of long tow he seemed to bring out the tresses like magic. In
his swift hand each strick flashed out from the rough hank with great
rapidity, and every crafty, final touch on the teeth made it brighter.
Giving a last flick or two over the small pins, Mr. Baggs set down his
strick and soon a pile of these shining locks grew beside him, while the
exhaust sucked away the rubbish and fragments, and the mass of short
fibre which he had combed out, also accumulated for future treatment.

He worked with the swiftness and surety of a master craftsman, scourged
his tow and snorted sometimes as he struggled with it. He was exerting a
tremendous pressure, regulated and applied with skill, and he always
exulted in the thought that he, at least, of all the workers performed
hand labour far more perfectly than any machine. But still it was not
the least of his many grievances that Government showed too little
concern for his comfort. He was always demanding increased precautions