notice.

The process, they discovered, differed very radically from the calfskin
treatment with which they were so familiar. Many of the slats were
tanned by being laid in trays of fine, moist powder that looked like
brown sugar.

"What is this stuff?" inquired Peter of a man who stood near by.

"That is sumac, young man."

"Sumac! Just common sumac?"

"Well, no. It is the same sort of thing, though. We import this from
Sicily, because the foreign leaves grow larger and contain more tannin.
Sicilian sumac makes better leather than does the American variety,
which comes chiefly from Virginia."

Peter nodded.

"And how long, pray, do the skins lie covered up in this snuffy brown
powder?" questioned Nat.

"About a week," answered the man. "We do not tan all sheepskins this
way, however. Some, as you will see, are tanned by being suspended from
a bar into a vat of quebracho. Others are put into wheels of chrome tan
just as calfskins are. White leathers are tanned, or more properly
speaking tawed, in a mixture of alum and egg-yolk."

"Egg-yolk!" gasped Peter. "Eggs--such as we eat?"

"I am not so sure that they are such as you would care to eat," grinned
the man, "but the yolks come from eggs, nevertheless."

"I should think it would take lots of men to break the eggs fast enough
and get them ready," murmured Peter, half aloud.

"Bless your heart! We don't break the eggs here!" roared the workman,
shaking with laughter. "No, indeed. We get egg-yolk by the barrel; when
we pour it out it looks like thin yellow paint. We tan kid for gloves in
egg-yolk," he went on, observing that both Nat and Peter were much
interested. "After sheepskins are tanned the leather must all be
fat-liquored, dried by steam or air fans, dampened, split or shaved off
to uniform thickness, dyed in revolving paddle-wheels filled with color,
and tacked on boards to dry just as calfskins are. The chemists who
have laboratories up-stairs test the dyes and mix or match the colors
for us. Then the skins go to the various rooms for the different
finishes. And speaking of finishes, I suppose you went into the
buffing-room in the other factory."

"No," said Peter, "we didn't--at least I didn't."

"Nor I," put in Nat. "The door was always closed and no one was
admitted."

"They don't like to have people go in if they can help it because every
time the door is opened it stirs things up; but I can take you into our
buffing-room if you want to go