Winston, however, sat gravely still, though the lad noticed that his eyes were keener than usual, for the muffled roar of the city, patter of messengers' feet, ceaseless tinkle of telephone call bells, and whir of the elevators, each packed with human freight, all stirred him.

Hitherto he had grappled with nature, but now he was to test his judgment against the keenest wits of the cities, and stand or fall by it, in the struggle that was to be waged over the older nations' food.
At last, however, a clerk signed to them from a doorway, and they found Graham sitting before a littered table.

A man sat opposite him with the telephone receiver in his hand.
"Sorry to keep you, but I've both hands full just now.

Every man in this city is thinking wheat," he said.

"Has he word from Chicago, Thomson ?" "Yes," said the clerk.