Page:Selected Czech tales - 1925.djvu/211

 word that is spoken is swallowed up by the noise; the men communicate with each other by signs only, or they put their mouth close to their companion’s ear and shout into it with the full power of their lungs.

But there is no time for unnecessary talk. The Sunday Paper is being printed in two editions, and every second of lost time costs five copies. From the moment when the overseer takes the seal off the indicator which gives the number of copies, every workman becomes a part of the machinery which has to perform certain movements within a certain time. From eleven at night till four in the morning, during the five hours while printing is going on, under stress of perpetual excitement, in the heat of an oven, none of the slaves of this despotic metal monster is conscious of himself. Their eyes anxiously watch the course of the shiny white paper, which is lit up by electric lamps at points of danger, and their hands are upon the levers to stop the machine instantly, should the paper get torn, which may happen at any moment through too much moistening or through a tiny pleat.

On the stopping of the machine at the right moment depends the immensely valuable economy of time, and the smooth working of