“Then a man, not a giant, touched a treadle, and another kind of giant, named ‘gravity,’ made the ore run from the bottom of the car into a bin.
“Chutes from the ore bin ran into the hold of the steamer, and almost before she had been tied to the dock she was ready to come down here.
“Giants or not, Billy Bradford?”
“Iron giants,” answered Billy.
“Rather different, Mr. Bradford,” said Dr. Crandon, “from fishing ore with tongs.”
“We’ve moved along a great way since that time,” said John Bradford, “and most of our progress has been due to iron.”
“Giants don’t do all the work even now,” said Mr. Prescott. “They make short work of iron mountains and surface deposits, but most of them are too large to work underground; though we mustn’t forget that Giant Electricity works down there with the men.
“Giant Gravity helps too, for, when they work below the deposit, he caves the ore down. Of course some ores are so hard that they can’t be caved, so there is still some mining for the men to do.”
“Was there,” asked Billy, trying to speak in a sort of offhand way, “an iron mountain where this iron came from?”
“There are some,” answered Mr. Prescott, “up in that region.”