Procuring work at the foundries presented no problem. The manager was, indeed, so amazed that somebody should actually volunteer instead of being dragged, confused and protesting, off a wagon, that he offered Is a fairly safe job shovelling coke, but she said she’d rather work on the bellows that blew the blast furnaces to maximum heat. ‘Why?’ ‘I’ve a mate there.’ ‘No talk or fooling, mind! That’s the rule. If you talk, you get the strap. See this?’ He held up a thick leather strap, heavy as a horse-whip. ‘Yus,’ said Is. ‘Right. Remember that. You get five minutes for your dinner and five for your supper. Got your grub with you?’ ‘No,’ said Is. ‘Go without, then. You’ll know to bring it tomorrow. Jem! Take this one to the bellows team on Number Two furnace.’ It would be no use, Is could see, asking to go to Number Four furnace; she must simply watch for her chance and take one, if it offered, to change over or to talk to the Number Four team. The bellows were kept in action by a team of seven or eight pulling on a rope.
