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Rh crete, the line moved smoothly forward, through this door, into a long outer corridor closed by a steel-barred gate from the yard. The guard, striding ahead, took position at this gate, then, when the line had reached him and had halted compressed and orderly before him, he opened it, letting the linked men out into the yard, under the shadow of the walls, with their pacing guards. Usually, though, at this morning hour, the guards were few.

In the dining-hall, the striped felon who had charge of the waiters commanded the line by signals, halting it at the door, then signing it to advance until the convicts were at their places at the tables, which extended the room’s length. At another signal, the striped men sat down and began to eat silently. At each end of the hall, overhead in a small barred gallery, a guard stood, holding a rifle, watching the dumb eaters.

They rose from their places at a final signal and, re-forming, crawled outside. 9009, now, was a link, a vertebra, in the monstrous thing. He touched two shoulders before him; he felt Rh