Once he rose to look out front to make sure he had not miscalculated the distance of this factory from the river.

Then after another period of waiting, he got thinking how much he might discover if he could get one glimpse into that far corner contiguous to that end of the rectangle where he had seen so many raw workers receiving the assistance of the night superintendent.

There was a way of doing this of which he had not thought before.

He had but to step outside, walk the length of the platform where the loading of shipments was going on, and look in at one of the great windows at the further end.
But when he came to make the attempt, he found himself plunged into such a turmoil and the way so blocked by the loading of boxes and the backing up and driving off of horses that he retreated precipitately.

Rather than encounter all this, he would await events from the inside.