Then, when he had soldered about a hundred links he returned once more to his minute work, propping his hands against the edge of the _cheville_, a small piece of board which the friction of his hands had polished.

He bent each link almost double with the pliers, squeezed one end close, inserted it in the last link already in place and then, with the aid of a point opened out again the end he had squeezed; and he did this with a continuous regularity, the links joining each other so rapidly that the chain gradually grew beneath Gervaise's gaze, without her being able to follow, or well understand how it was done.
"That's the herring-bone chain," said Coupeau.

"There's also the long link, the cable, the plain ring, and the spiral.

But that's the herring-bone.

Lorilleux only makes the herring-bone chain." The latter chuckled with satisfaction.