He had to stop talking to catch at his breath.  His arm twisted into Raut’s with benumbing tightness.  He had come striding down the black path towards the railway as though he was possessed.  Raut had not spoken a word, had simply hung back against Horrocks’ pull with all his strength.

“I say,” he said now, laughing nervously, but with an undernote of snarl in his voice, “why on earth are you nipping my arm off, Horrocks, and dragging me along like this?”

At length Horrocks released him.  His manner changed again.  “Nipping your arm off?” he said.  “Sorry.  But it’s you taught me the trick of walking in that friendly way.”

“You haven’t learnt the refinements of it yet then,” said Raut, laughing artificially again.  “By Jove!  I’m black and blue.”  Horrocks offered no apology.  They stood now near the bottom of the hill, close to the fence that bordered the railway.  The ironworks had grown larger and spread out with their approach.  They looked up to the blast furnaces now instead of down; the further view of Etruria and Hanley had dropped out of sight with their descent.  Before them, by the stile rose a notice-board, bearing still dimly visible, the words, “BEWARE OF THE TRAINS,” half hidden by splashes of coaly mud.

“Fine effects,” said Horrocks, waving his arm.  “Here comes a train.  The puffs of smoke, the orange glare, the round eye of light in front of it, the melodious rattle.  Fine effects!  But these furnaces of mine used to be finer, before we shoved cones in their throats, and saved the gas.”

“How?” said Raut.  “Cones?”

“Cones, my man, cones.  I’ll show you one nearer.  The flames used to flare out of the open throats, great—­what is it?—­pillars of cloud by day, red and black smoke, and pillars of fire by night.  Now we run it off in pipes, and burn it to heat the blast, and the top is shut by a cone.  You’ll be interested in that cone.”

“But every now and then,” said Raut, “you get a burst of fire and smoke up there.”

“The cone’s not fixed, it’s hung by a chain from a lever, and balanced by an equipoise.  You shall see it nearer.  Else, of course, there’d be no way of getting fuel into the thing.  Every now and then the cone dips, and out comes the flare.”

“I see,” said Raut.  He looked over his shoulder.  “The moon gets brighter,” he said.

“Come along,” said Horrocks abruptly, gripping his shoulder again, and moving him suddenly towards the railway crossing.  And then came one of those swift incidents, vivid, but so rapid that they leave one doubtful and reeling.  Halfway across, Horrocks’ hand suddenly clenched upon him like a vice, and swung him backward and through a half-turn, so that he looked up the line.  And there a chain of lamp-lit carriage-windows telescoped swiftly as it came towards them, and the red and yellow lights of an engine grew larger and larger, rushing down upon them.  As he grasped what this meant, he turned his face to Horrocks, and pushed with all his strength against the arm that held him back between the rails.  The struggle did not last a moment.  Just as certain as it was that Horrocks held him there, so certain was it that he had been violently lugged out of danger.