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- Фрэнк Норрис
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Suddenly
,
from
a
distance
at
the
head
of
the
line
came
the
shrill
trilling
of
a
whistle
.
At
once
the
foreman
nearest
Vanamee
repeated
it
,
at
the
same
time
turning
down
the
line
,
and
waving
one
arm
.
The
signal
was
repeated
,
whistle
answering
whistle
,
till
the
sounds
lost
themselves
in
the
distance
.
At
once
the
line
of
ploughs
lost
its
immobility
,
moving
forward
,
getting
slowly
under
way
,
the
horses
straining
in
the
traces
.
A
prolonged
movement
rippled
from
team
to
team
,
disengaging
in
its
passage
a
multitude
of
sounds
—
-
the
click
of
buckles
,
the
creak
of
straining
leather
,
the
subdued
clash
of
machinery
,
the
cracking
of
whips
,
the
deep
breathing
of
nearly
four
hundred
horses
,
the
abrupt
commands
and
cries
of
the
drivers
,
and
,
last
of
all
,
the
prolonged
,
soothing
murmur
of
the
thick
brown
earth
turning
steadily
from
the
multitude
of
advancing
shears
.
The
ploughing
thus
commenced
,
continued
.
The
sun
rose
higher
.
Steadily
the
hundred
iron
hands
kneaded
and
furrowed
and
stroked
the
brown
,
humid
earth
,
the
hundred
iron
teeth
bit
deep
into
the
Titan
’
s
flesh
.
Perched
on
his
seat
,
the
moist
living
reins
slipping
and
tugging
in
his
hands
,
Vanamee
,
in
the
midst
of
this
steady
confusion
of
constantly
varying
sensation
,
sight
interrupted
by
sound
,
sound
mingling
with
sight
,
on
this
swaying
,
vibrating
seat
,
quivering
with
the
prolonged
thrill
of
the
earth
,
lapsed
to
a
sort
of
pleasing
numbness
,
in
a
sense
,
hypnotised
by
the
weaving
maze
of
things
in
which
he
found
himself
involved
.
To
keep
his
team
at
an
even
,
regular
gait
,
maintaining
the
precise
interval
,
to
run
his
furrows
as
closely
as
possible
to
those
already
made
by
the
plough
in
front
—
this
for
the
moment
was
the
entire
sum
of
his
duties
.
But
while
one
part
of
his
brain
,
alert
and
watchful
,
took
cognisance
of
these
matters
,
all
the
greater
part
was
lulled
and
stupefied
with
the
long
monotony
of
the
affair
.
The
ploughing
,
now
in
full
swing
,
enveloped
him
in
a
vague
,
slow
-
moving
whirl
of
things
.
Underneath
him
was
the
jarring
,
jolting
,
trembling
machine
;
not
a
clod
was
turned
,
not
an
obstacle
encountered
,
that
he
did
not
receive
the
swift
impression
of
it
through
all
his
body
,
the
very
friction
of
the
damp
soil
,
sliding
incessantly
from
the
shiny
surface
of
the
shears
,
seemed
to
reproduce
itself
in
his
finger
-
tips
and
along
the
back
of
his
head
.
He
heard
the
horse
-
hoofs
by
the
myriads
crushing
down
easily
,
deeply
,
into
the
loam
,
the
prolonged
clinking
of
trace
-
chains
,
the
working
of
the
smooth
brown
flanks
in
the
harness
,
the
clatter
of
wooden
hames
,
the
champing
of
bits
,
the
click
of
iron
shoes
against
pebbles
,
the
brittle
stubble
of
the
surface
ground
crackling
and
snapping
as
the
furrows
turned
,
the
sonorous
,
steady
breaths
wrenched
from
the
deep
,
labouring
chests
,
strap
-
bound
,
shining
with
sweat
,
and
all
along
the
line
the
voices
of
the
men
talking
to
the
horses
.
Everywhere
there
were
visions
of
glossy
brown
backs
,
straining
,
heaving
,
swollen
with
muscle
;
harness
streaked
with
specks
of
froth
,
broad
,
cup
-
shaped
hoofs
,
heavy
with
brown
loam
,
men
’
s
faces
red
with
tan
,
blue
overalls
spotted
with
axle
-
grease
;
muscled
hands
,
the
knuckles
whitened
in
their
grip
on
the
reins
,
and
through
it
all
the
ammoniacal
smell
of
the
horses
,
the
bitter
reek
of
perspiration
of
beasts
and
men
,
the
aroma
of
warm
leather
,
the
scent
of
dead
stubble
—
and
stronger
and
more
penetrating
than
everything
else
,
the
heavy
,
enervating
odour
of
the
upturned
,
living
earth
.
At
intervals
,
from
the
tops
of
one
of
the
rare
,
low
swells
of
the
land
,
Vanamee
overlooked
a
wider
horizon
.
On
the
other
divisions
of
Quien
Sabe
the
same
work
was
in
progress
.
Occasionally
he
could
see
another
column
of
ploughs
in
the
adjoining
division
—
sometimes
so
close
at
hand
that
the
subdued
murmur
of
its
movements
reached
his
ear
;
sometimes
so
distant
that
it
resolved
itself
into
a
long
,
brown
streak
upon
the
grey
of
the
ground
.
Farther
off
to
the
west
on
the
Osterman
ranch
other
columns
came
and
went
,
and
,
once
,
from
the
crest
of
the
highest
swell
on
his
division
,
Vanamee
caught
a
distant
glimpse
of
the
Broderson
ranch
.
There
,
too
,
moving
specks
indicated
that
the
ploughing
was
under
way
.
And
farther
away
still
,
far
off
there
beyond
the
fine
line
of
the
horizons
,
over
the
curve
of
the
globe
,
the
shoulder
of
the
earth
,
he
knew
were
other
ranches
,
and
beyond
these
others
,
and
beyond
these
still
others
,
the
immensities
multiplying
to
infinity
.
Everywhere
throughout
the
great
San
Joaquin
,
unseen
and
unheard
,
a
thousand
ploughs
up
-
stirred
the
land
,
tens
of
thousands
of
shears
clutched
deep
into
the
warm
,
moist
soil
.
It
was
the
long
stroking
caress
,
vigorous
,
male
,
powerful
,
for
which
the
Earth
seemed
panting
.
The
heroic
embrace
of
a
multitude
of
iron
hands
,
gripping
deep
into
the
brown
,
warm
flesh
of
the
land
that
quivered
responsive
and
passionate
under
this
rude
advance
,
so
robust
as
to
be
almost
an
assault
,
so
violent
as
to
be
veritably
brutal
.
There
,
under
the
sun
and
under
the
speckless
sheen
of
the
sky
,
the
wooing
of
the
Titan
began
,
the
vast
primal
passion
,
the
two
world
-
forces
,
the
elemental
Male
and
Female
,
locked
in
a
colossal
embrace
,
at
grapples
in
the
throes
of
an
infinite
desire
,
at
once
terrible
and
divine
,
knowing
no
law
,
untamed
,
savage
,
natural
,
sublime
.
