Here indeed was a picturesque scene. Numberless men were hurrying hither and thither, some whirling in the air glowing masses of molten glass; others standing before the furnace doors gathering balls of it on the end of long iron blow-pipes which were from six to nine feet in length. Everybody was scurrying. As soon as a ball of red-hot glass had been collected on the end of a blow-pipe it was rushed off to the blower before it cooled. In and out of the throng of moving workmen young boys, or carriers, swung along bearing to the annealing ovens on charred wooden trays or forks newly completed vases or pitchers. Jean glanced about, fascinated by the bustling crowd. "Here are the furnaces," the foreman said. "Each one has twelve openings and is built with a low dome to keep in the heat. The flues or chimneys are in the sides of the furnace. Within, and just beneath the openings or working-holes, stand the great clay pots of molten batch. These pots are made for us from New Jersey clay; formerly we used to make them ourselves, but it was a great deal of trouble, and we now find it simpler to buy them. They vary in cost from thirty to seventy-five dollars, according to their size." "And they are liable to break the first time they are used," whispered Giusippe in a jesting undertone. Mr. Wyman caught his words. "Ah, you know something of glass-making then, my young man?" "A little." "The pots are, as you say, a great lottery. Sometimes one will be in constant use three months or longer, and do good service; on the other hand a pot may break the first time using and let all the melt into the furnace. Then we have a lively time, I can tell you, ladling it out, and taking care in the meantime that none of the other pots are upset." Giusippe nodded appreciatively. Many a day just such a catastrophe had occurred when he had been working; vividly he recalled how all the men had been forced to come to the rescue. "Are the pots filled to the top with batch?" asked Mr. Cabot. "Yes, we charge them pretty solid; but the raw material loses bulk in melting, so they have to be filled in as the melt settles. At the end of ten or twelve hours we have a refilling or _topping out_, as we call it; usually this is enough. The first fill must become fluid and its gases must escape before any more material is added; we also have to be sure when we put the pots in the furnace that the temperature is high enough to melt the batch immediately, or the glass will go bad." "What do you use for fuel?"