He touched his guide upon the arm and pointed. "Isn't that
dangerous?" he shouted.

"It's against orders," said the man. "But they will do it."

And even while the words of a reply were upon his lips, something
happened which turned the sound into a scream of horror. Montague
stood with his hand still pointing, his whole body turned to stone.
Instantaneously, as if by the act of a magician, the man upon the
ladder had disappeared; and instead there was a hazy mist about the
shaft, and the ladder tumbling to the ground.

No one else in the mill appeared to have noticed it. Montague's
guide leaped forward, dodging a white-hot plate upon its journey to
the roller, and rushed down the room to where the engineer was
standing by his machinery. For a period which could not have been
less than a minute, Montague stood staring at the horrible sight;
and then slowly he saw what had been a mist beginning to define
itself as the body of a man whirling about the shaft.

Then, as the machinery moved more slowly yet, and the din in the
mill subsided, he saw several men raise the ladder again to the
shaft and climb up. When the revolving had stopped entirely, they
proceeded to cut the body loose; but Montague did not wait to see
that. He was white and sick, and he turned and went outside.

He went away to another part of the yards and sat down in the shade
of one of the buildings, and told himself that that was the way of
life. All the while the din of the mills continued without
interruption. A while later he saw four men go past, carrying a