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When
Izz
Huett
and
Tess
arrived
at
the
scene
of
operations
only
a
rustling
denoted
that
others
had
preceded
them
;
to
which
,
as
the
light
increased
,
there
were
presently
added
the
silhouettes
of
two
men
on
the
summit
.
They
were
busily
unhaling
the
rick
,
that
is
,
stripping
off
the
thatch
before
beginning
to
throw
down
the
sheaves
;
and
while
this
was
in
progress
Izz
and
Tess
,
with
the
other
women
-
workers
,
in
their
whitey
-
brown
pinners
,
stood
waiting
and
shivering
,
Farmer
Groby
having
insisted
upon
their
being
on
the
spot
thus
early
to
get
the
job
over
if
possible
by
the
end
of
the
day
.
Close
under
the
eaves
of
the
stack
,
and
as
yet
barely
visible
,
was
the
red
tyrant
that
the
women
had
come
to
serve
a
timber
-
framed
construction
,
with
straps
and
wheels
appertaining
the
threshing
-
machine
which
,
whilst
it
was
going
,
kept
up
a
despotic
demand
upon
the
endurance
of
their
muscles
and
nerves
.
A
little
way
off
there
was
another
indistinct
figure
;
this
one
black
,
with
a
sustained
hiss
that
spoke
of
strength
very
much
in
reserve
.
The
long
chimney
running
up
beside
an
ash
-
tree
,
and
the
warmth
which
radiated
from
the
spot
,
explained
without
the
necessity
of
much
daylight
that
here
was
the
engine
which
was
to
act
as
the
PRIMUM
MOBILE
of
this
little
world
.
By
the
engine
stood
a
dark
motionless
being
,
a
sooty
and
grimy
embodiment
of
tallness
,
in
a
sort
of
trance
,
with
a
heap
of
coals
by
his
side
:
it
was
the
engineman
.
The
isolation
of
his
manner
and
colour
lent
him
the
appearance
of
a
creature
from
Tophet
,
who
had
strayed
into
the
pellucid
smokelessness
of
this
region
of
yellow
grain
and
pale
soil
,
with
which
he
had
nothing
in
common
,
to
amaze
and
to
discompose
its
aborigines
.
What
he
looked
he
felt
.
He
was
in
the
agricultural
world
,
but
not
of
it
.
He
served
fire
and
smoke
;
these
denizens
of
the
fields
served
vegetation
,
weather
,
frost
,
and
sun
.
He
travelled
with
his
engine
from
farm
to
farm
,
from
county
to
county
,
for
as
yet
the
steam
threshing
-
machine
was
itinerant
in
this
part
of
Wessex
.
He
spoke
in
a
strange
northern
accent
;
his
thoughts
being
turned
inwards
upon
himself
,
his
eye
on
his
iron
charge
,
hardly
perceiving
the
scenes
around
him
,
and
caring
for
them
not
at
all
:
holding
only
strictly
necessary
intercourse
with
the
natives
,
as
if
some
ancient
doom
compelled
him
to
wander
here
against
his
will
in
the
service
of
his
Plutonic
master
.
The
long
strap
which
ran
from
the
driving
-
wheel
of
his
engine
to
the
red
thresher
under
the
rick
was
the
sole
tie
-
line
between
agriculture
and
him
.
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While
they
uncovered
the
sheaves
he
stood
apathetic
beside
his
portable
repository
of
force
,
round
whose
hot
blackness
the
morning
air
quivered
.
He
had
nothing
to
do
with
preparatory
labour
.
His
fire
was
waiting
incandescent
,
his
steam
was
at
high
pressure
,
in
a
few
seconds
he
could
make
the
long
strap
move
at
an
invisible
velocity
.
Beyond
its
extent
the
environment
might
be
corn
,
straw
,
or
chaos
;
it
was
all
the
same
to
him
.
If
any
of
the
autochthonous
idlers
asked
him
what
he
called
himself
,
he
replied
shortly
,
an
engineer
.
The
rick
was
unhaled
by
full
daylight
;
the
men
then
took
their
places
,
the
women
mounted
,
and
the
work
began
.
Farmer
Groby
or
,
as
they
called
him
,
he
had
arrived
ere
this
,
and
by
his
orders
Tess
was
placed
on
the
platform
of
the
machine
,
close
to
the
man
who
fed
it
,
her
business
being
to
untie
every
sheaf
of
corn
handed
on
to
her
by
Izz
Huett
,
who
stood
next
,
but
on
the
rick
;
so
that
the
feeder
could
seize
it
and
spread
it
over
the
revolving
drum
,
which
whisked
out
every
grain
in
one
moment
.
They
were
soon
in
full
progress
,
after
a
preparatory
hitch
or
two
,
which
rejoiced
the
hearts
of
those
who
hated
machinery
.
The
work
sped
on
till
breakfast
time
,
when
the
thresher
was
stopped
for
half
an
hour
;
and
on
starting
again
after
the
meal
the
whole
supplementary
strength
of
the
farm
was
thrown
into
the
labour
of
constructing
the
straw
-
rick
,
which
began
to
grow
beside
the
stack
of
corn
.
A
hasty
lunch
was
eaten
as
they
stood
,
without
leaving
their
positions
,
and
then
another
couple
of
hours
brought
them
near
to
dinner
-
time
;
the
inexorable
wheel
continuing
to
spin
,
and
the
penetrating
hum
of
the
thresher
to
thrill
to
the
very
marrow
all
who
were
near
the
revolving
wire
-
cage
.
The
old
men
on
the
rising
straw
-
rick
talked
of
the
past
days
when
they
had
been
accustomed
to
thresh
with
flails
on
the
oaken
barn
-
door
;
when
everything
,
even
to
winnowing
,
was
effected
by
hand
-
labour
,
which
,
to
their
thinking
,
though
slow
,
produced
better
results
.
Those
,
too
,
on
the
corn
-
rick
talked
a
little
;
but
the
perspiring
ones
at
the
machine
,
including
Tess
,
could
not
lighten
their
duties
by
the
exchange
of
many
words
.
It
was
the
ceaselessness
of
the
work
which
tried
her
so
severely
,
and
began
to
make
her
wish
that
she
had
never
some
to
Flintcomb
-
Ash
.
The
women
on
the
corn
-
rick
Marian
,
who
was
one
of
them
,
in
particular
could
stop
to
drink
ale
or
cold
tea
from
the
flagon
now
and
then
,
or
to
exchange
a
few
gossiping
remarks
while
they
wiped
their
faces
or
cleared
the
fragments
of
straw
and
husk
from
their
clothing
;
but
for
Tess
there
was
no
respite
;
for
,
as
the
drum
never
stopped
,
the
man
who
fed
it
could
not
stop
,
and
she
,
who
had
to
supply
the
man
with
untied
sheaves
,
could
not
stop
either
,
unless
Marian
changed
places
with
her
,
which
she
sometimes
did
for
half
an
hour
in
spite
of
Groby
s
objections
that
she
was
too
slow
-
handed
for
a
feeder
.
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For
some
probably
economical
reason
it
was
usually
a
woman
who
was
chosen
for
this
particular
duty
,
and
Groby
gave
as
his
motive
in
selecting
Tess
that
she
was
one
of
those
who
best
combined
strength
with
quickness
in
untying
,
and
both
with
staying
power
,
and
this
may
have
been
true
.
The
hum
of
the
thresher
,
which
prevented
speech
,
increased
to
a
raving
whenever
the
supply
of
corn
fell
short
of
the
regular
quantity
.
As
Tess
and
the
man
who
fed
could
never
turn
their
heads
she
did
not
know
that
just
before
the
dinner
-
hour
a
person
had
come
silently
into
the
field
by
the
gate
,
and
had
been
standing
under
a
second
rick
watching
the
scene
,
and
Tess
in
particular
.
He
was
dressed
in
a
tweed
suit
of
fashionable
pattern
,
and
he
twirled
a
gay
walking
-
cane
.
Who
is
that
?
said
Izz
Huett
to
Marian
.
She
had
at
first
addressed
the
inquiry
to
Tess
,
but
the
latter
could
not
hear
it
.
Somebody
s
fancy
-
man
,
I
s
pose
,
said
Marian
laconically
.