“He’s black!” said Dr. Crandon.
“He roars!” added John Bradford.
“And,” said Mr. Prescott, “even if he could be moved, he’s rather too valuable for a circus manager to buy, for he cost a million dollars. I really think he’s the most fearful thing ever made by man. The Germans, though, did a great thing for iron when they evolved the blast furnace.”
“Makes our cupola,” said John Bradford, as they stopped before the tall iron stack, “look very small.”
“Ours,” said Mr. Prescott, “is only a dwarf, but he does something [like] the same work; only here they put in iron ore instead of pig iron. Blast furnaces make pig iron.”
“THE MOST FEARFUL THING EVER MADE”
“What diet,” asked Dr. Crandon, “do they give this giant?”
“You’re bound to think professionally, aren’t you, Crandon? He’s restricted to coke, iron ore, and limestone, but they feed him very often. They see, too, that he has plenty of hot air to breathe.
“The old problem used to be how to get heat enough to melt the ore. That was solved by a Scotchman, who originated the use of the hot blast.