Then the minutes passed.

The whole work hung suspended.

All up and down the line one demanded what had happened.
The division superintendent galloped past, perplexed and anxious.

For the moment, one of the ploughs was out of order, a bolt had slipped, a lever refused to work, or a machine had become immobilised in heavy ground, or a horse had lamed himself.

Once, even, toward noon, an entire plough was taken out of the line, so out of gear that a messenger had to be sent to the division forge to summon the machinist.
Annixter had disappeared.