Page 130 of The Armor of Light

Jarge was bewildered. ‘I just don’t get it,’ he said, scratching his head through his hat.

Kit said: ‘Pull on that belt and see what happens.’

Jarge looked dubious but said: ‘All right.’

At first nothing happened.

Then there was a loud clack from the loom and one of the heddles lifted. If the yarn had been threaded into place, the heddle would have raised every alternate thread of the warp, forming the gap or shed.

Next, there was a bang as the flying shuttle shot from one side of the loom to the other.

Kit could see the mechanism at the back, a system of cogs and rods that directed the motion to the next task.

Jarge was amazed. ‘It’s all happening – but with no weaver!’

Another bang, and the beater thrust into the shed in the action that pushed the thread deep into the V-shape.

With another loud crack one heddle dropped and the other lifted, to raise the other threads. The shuttle flew back to its original position, and the beater thrust again.

Then the process started over again.

Jarge said: ‘Well, how does it know what to do next?’ There was a note of superstitious dread in his tone as he added: ‘There must be an imp working the machine.’

‘It’s a mechanism,’ Kit said. ‘Like clockwork.’

‘Like clockwork,’ Jarge muttered. ‘I never really understood clocks.’

Kit was astonished for a different reason. ‘All these looms will work together – driven by that steam engine!’

‘There’s more to this than steam,’ Jarge said, and he looked fearful.

Sal said: ‘I’ll wager it won’t make a good smooth cloth.’

Kit had noticed that the hands always said that Satan was in the machines and they would never do as good a job as a craftsman. He believed they were wrong.

Sal said thoughtfully: ‘Hornbeam may be a nasty devil, but he doesn’t waste his money. If these machines work...’

‘If these machines work,’ Jarge said, ‘what would be the point in being a weaver?’

‘This can’t be allowed,’ Sal said, muttering half to herself. ‘But what can we do?’

Jarge said: ‘Smash the machines. There’s enough weavers, about a hundred, working for Hornbeam. If they all come here with hammers, who’s going to stop them?’

Then they will be transported to Australia, like Joanie, Kit thought.

‘You know what?’ Sal said. ‘I’d like to tell Spade about this, and see what he’s got to say.’

Kit thought: And Spade will have a better idea than smashing everything up.

*

Sal sent Kit to Sunday school. ‘You’ll be in time for the soup,’ she said. The discussion with Spade would be about how to take action against the masters, and she did not want a child listening to that. Kit was a bright lad but he was too young to be trusted with secrets.

Spade was just finishing his dinner, and there was bread and cheese on the table. He told his visitors to help themselves, and Jarge tucked in. Sal summarized what they had seen at the new mill.

‘I’ve heard rumours,’ Spade said when she had finished. ‘Now I know they’re true.’

Sal said: ‘The question is what do we do about it?’