"Try to look into the house!" he commanded. A strong current of air was
forced into a big cylinder which was suspended from the ceiling and
filled with molten iron. As this current rushed into the mess of iron
with an awful roar, showers of sparks of all colours spurted up in
bunches, in sprays, in long clusters! They struck against the wall and
came splashing down over the whole big room. Father Bear let the boy
watch the gorgeous spectacle until the blowing was over and the flowing
and sparkling red steel had been poured into ingot moulds.
The boy was completely charmed by the marvellous display and almost
forgot that he was imprisoned between a bear's two paws.
Father Bear let him look into the rolling mill. He saw a workman take a
short, thick bar of iron at white heat from a furnace opening and place
it under a roller. When the iron came out from under the roller, it was
flattened and extended. Immediately another workman seized it and placed
it beneath a heavier roller, which made it still longer and thinner.
Thus it was passed from roller to roller, squeezed and drawn out until,
finally, it curled along the floor, like a long red thread.
But while the first bar of iron was being pressed, a second was taken
from the furnace and placed under the rollers, and when this was a
little along, a third was brought.
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