a drive through a stately street where were shops which might rival bond street, the rue de la paix, or fifth avenue for the richness and variety of their contents; a street whose pavements were thronged with well-dressed pedestrians and whose roadway was filled with motor cars—vehicles, these, scornful of the petrol tax and such-like mundane and vulgar restrictions—in fine, the street of a rich and thriving city.
but suddenly the stately thoroughfare had given place to a meaner street, its princely shops had degenerated into blank walls or grimy yards, on either hand rose tall chimney-stacks belching smoke, instead of dashing motor cars, heavy wains and cumbrous wagons jogged by, in place of the well-dressed throng were figures rough-clad and grimy that hurried along the narrow sidewalks—but these rough-clad people walked fast and purposefully. so we hummed along streets wide or narrow but always grimy, until we were halted at a tall barrier by divers policemen, who, having inspected our credentials, permitted us to pass on to the factory, or series of factories, that stretched themselves[pg 10] before us, building on building—block on block—a very town.
here we were introduced to various managers and heads of departments, among whom was one in the uniform of a captain of engineers, under whose capable wing i had the good fortune to come, for he, it seemed, had lived among engines and machinery, had thought out and contrived lethal weapons from his youth up, and therewith retained so kindly and genial a personality as drew me irresistibly. wherefore i gave myself to his guidance, and he, chatting of books and literature and the like trivialities, led me along corridors and passage ways to see the wonder of the guns. and as we went, in the air about us was a stir, a hum that grew and ever grew, until, passing a massive swing door there burst upon us a rumble, a roar, a clashing din.
we stood in a place of gloom lit by many fires, a vast place whose roof was hid by blue vapour; all about us rose the dim forms of huge stamps, whose thunderous stroke beat out a deep diapason to the ring of countless hand-hammers. and, lighted by the sudden glare of furnace-fires were figures, bare-armed, smoke-grimed, wild of aspect, figures that whirled heavy sledges or worked the levers of the giant steam-hammers, while here and there bars of iron new-glowing from the furnace winked and twinkled in the gloom where those wild, half-naked men-shapes flitted to and fro unheard amid the thunderous din. awed and half stunned, i stood viewing that never-to-be-forgotten[pg 11] scene until i grew aware that the captain was roaring in my ear.
"forge ... rifle barrels ... come and see and mind where you tread!"
treading as seemingly silent as those wild human shapes, that straightened brawny backs to view me as i passed, that grinned in the fire-glow and spoke one to another, words lost to my stunned hearing, ere they bent to their labour again. obediently i followed the captain's dim form until i was come where, bare-armed, leathern-aproned and be-spectacled, stood one who seemed of some account among these salamanders, who, nodding to certain words addressed to him by the captain, seized a pair of tongs, swung open a furnace door, and plucking thence a glowing brand, whirled it with practised ease, and setting it upon the dies beneath a huge steam-hammer, nodded his head. instantly that mighty engine fell to work, thumping and banging with mighty strokes, and with each stroke that glowing steel bar changed and changed, grew round, grew thin, hunched a shoulder here, showed a flat there, until, lo! before my eyes was the shape of a rifle minus the stock! hereupon the be-spectacled salamander nodded again, the giant hammer became immediately immobile, the glowing forging was set among hundreds of others and a voice roared in my ear:
"two minutes ... this way."
a door opens, closes, and we are in sunshine again, and the captain is smilingly reminiscent of books.
"this is greater than books," said i.
[pg 12]
"why, that depends," says he, "there are books and books ... this way!"
up a flight of stairs, through a doorway and i am in a shop where huge machines grow small in perspective. and here i see the rough forging pass through the many stages of trimming, milling, turning, boring, rifling until comes the assembling, and i take up the finished rifle ready for its final process—testing. so downstairs we go to the testing sheds, wherefrom as we approach comes the sound of dire battle, continuous reports, now in volleys, now in single sniping shots, or in rapid succession.
inside, i breathe an air charged with burnt powder and behold in a long row, many rifles mounted upon crutches, their muzzles levelled at so many targets. beside each rifle stand two men, one to sight and correct, and one to fire and watch the effect of the shot by means of a telescope fixed to hand.
with the nearest of these men i incontinent fell into talk—a chatty fellow this, who, busied with pliers adjusting the back-sight of a rifle, talked to me of lines of sight and angles of deflection, his remarks sharply punctuated by rifle-shots, that came now slowly, now in twos and threes and now in rapid volleys.
"yes, sir," said he, busy pliers never still, "guns and rifles is very like us—you and me, say. some is just naturally good and some is worse than bad—load up, george! a new rifle's like a kid—pretty sure to fire a bit wide at first—not being used to it—we [pg 13]was all kids once, sir, remember! but a bit of correction here an' there'll put that right as a rule. on the other hand there's rifles as old nick himself nor nobody else could make shoot straight—ready george? and it's just the same with kids! now, if you'll stick your eyes to that glass, and watch the target, you'll see how near she'll come this time—all right, george!" as he speaks the rifle speaks also, and observing the hit on the target, i sing out:
"three o'clock!"
ensues more work with the pliers; george loads and fires and with one eye still at the telescope i give him:
"five o'clock!"
another moment of adjusting, again the rifle cracks and this time i announce:
"a bull!"
hereupon my companion squints through the glass and nods: "right-oh, george!" says he, then, while george the silent stacks the tested rifle with many others, he turns to me and nods, "got 'im that time, sir—pity it weren't a bloomin' hun!"
here the patient captain suggests we had better go, and unwillingly i follow him out into the open and the sounds of battle die away behind us.
and now, as we walked, i learned some particulars of that terrible device the lewis gun; how that it could spout bullets at the rate of 600 per minute; how, by varying pressures of the trigger, it could be fired by single rounds or pour[pg 14] forth its entire magazine in a continuous, shattering volley and how it weighed no more than twenty-six pounds.
"and here," said the captain, opening a door and speaking in his pleasant voice, much as though he were showing me some rare flowers, "here is where they grow by the hundred, every week."
and truly in hundreds they were, long rows of them standing very neatly in racks, their walnut stocks heel by heel, their grim, blue muzzles in long, serried ranks, very orderly and precise; and something in their very orderliness endowed them with a certain individuality as it were, it almost seemed to me that they were waiting, mustered and ready, for that hour of ferocious roar and tumult when their voice should be the voice of swift and terrible death. now as i gazed upon them, filled with these scarcely definable thoughts, i was startled by a sudden shattering crash near by, a sound made up of many individual reports, and swinging about, i espied a man seated upon a stool; a plump, middle-aged, family sort of man, who sat upon his low stool, his aproned knees set wide, as plump, middle-aged family men often do. as i watched, paterfamilias squinted along the sights of one of these guns and once again came that shivering crash that is like nothing else i ever heard. him i approached and humbly ventured an awed question or so, whereon he graciously beckoned me nearer, vacated his stool, and motioning me to sit there, suggested i might try a shot at the target, a far disc lighted by shaded electric bulbs.
[pg 15]
"she's fixed dead on!" he said, "and she's true—you can't miss. a quick pull for single shots and a steady pressure for a volley."
hereupon i pressed the trigger, the gun stirred gently in its clamps, the air throbbed, and a stream of ten bullets (the testing number) plunged into the bull's-eye and all in the space of a moment.
"there ain't a un'oly 'un of 'em all could say hoch the kaiser' with them in his stomach," said paterfamilias thoughtfully, laying a hand upon the respectable stomach beneath his apron, "it's a gun, that is!" and a gun it most assuredly is.
i would have tarried longer with paterfamilias, for in his own way, he was as arresting as this terrible weapon—or nearly so—but the captain, gentle-voiced and serene as ever, suggested that my companions had a train to catch, wherefore i reluctantly turned away. but as i went, needs must i glance back at paterfamilias, as comfortable as ever where he sat, but with pudgy fingers on trigger grimly at work again, and from him to the long, orderly rows of guns mustered in their orderly ranks, awaiting their hour.
we walked through shops where belts and pulleys and wheels and cogs flapped and whirled and ground in ceaseless concert, shops where files rasped and hammers rang, shops again where all seemed riot and confusion at the first glance, but at a second showed itself ordered confusion, as it were. and as we went, my captain spoke of the hospital bay, of wards and dispensary (lately enlarged) of sister and nurses and the grand work[pg 16] they were doing among the employees other than attending to their bodily ills; and talking thus, he brought me to the place, a place of exquisite order and tidiness, yet where nurses, blue-uniformed, in their white caps, cuffs and aprons, seemed to me the neatest of all. and here i was introduced to sister, capable, strong, gentle-eyed, who told me something of her work—how many came to her with wounds of soul as well as body; of griefs endured and wrongs suffered by reason of pitiful lack of knowledge; of how she was teaching them care and cleanliness of minds as well as bodies, which is surely the most blessed heritage the unborn generations may inherit. she told me of the patient bravery of the women, the chivalry of grimy men, whose hurts may wait that others may be treated first. so she talked and i listened until, perceiving the captain somewhat ostentatiously consulting his watch, i presently left that quiet haven with its soft-treading ministering attendants.
so we had tea and cigarettes, and when i eventually shook hands with my captain, i felt that i was parting with a friend.
"and what struck you most particularly this afternoon?" enquired one of my companions.
"well," said i, "it was either the lewis gun or paterfamilias the grim."
