3 The top of the tower

Chapter 3 The top of the tower Hannah and Jackson followed Monsieur Eiffel and the journalists up the spiral staircase. Above them rose the metal beams of the tower. "The elevators aren't working yet," Monsieur Eiffel explained, as they went up. "But believe me, it's worth walking up

all of these stairs for the view at the top!" "How many stairs are there?" Jackson asked. "There will be 1,665 when the tower's finished," said Monsieur Eiffel. "The elevators will be ready in a few weeks. An American company's installing them. They've demonstrated that if you cut the cable that holds the elevator, it would stop before hitting the ground. They call them 'safety elevators.' Great invention." Monsieur Eiffel stopped so the group could admire the view. Hannah showed Jackson places she'd learned about in school: the Arc de Triomphe, the Champs Élysées, the Louvre Museum, and of course, the River Seine, which was snaking through the city.

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Monsieur Eiffel patted a metal beam. "It's taking 7,300 metric tons of iron to build my tower, and more than 18,000 metal parts," he said, and smiled. "Its nickname is the Iron Lady." "Sir, how are the beams fixed together?" Hannah asked. "Good question!" he replied. "We use cylinder-shaped pieces of iron, called rivets, to fix two beams together. The rivets are heated, then put through holes in the beams where they are to be joined. Then the ends are hammered flat so the rivet can't fall out." "Why do they heat them?" asked Jackson. "Another good question!" Monsieur Eiffel looked delighted. "When the rivet

cools down, it shrinks a little, which pulls the beams together even more tightly. It's simple, but it works." When they reached the first level, they stopped again. "I can see for miles," said Jackson. "You can look down on all the palaces and pavilions of the fair too, as well as at all the people," said Monsieur Eiffel. "It's like being a bird!" Inside Hannah's satchel, Tempo gave a little cuckoo. Monsieur Eiffel showed them four grand restaurants, one on each side of the level. "We'll also have refreshment kiosks and a patisserie," he said. "Something for everyone!" As they set off again, a journalist,

who looked rather pale, said he was going back down. "I've never been up this high," he said as he headed for the stairs. "I don't like it. Suppose the tower were to fall?" A tall man asked nervously, "Could it fall?" Monsieur Eiffel smiled. "No. My engineers are the best. We plan to be open to visitors for the next twenty years!" "Hmmm," said a journalist, "maybe the people of Paris won't want to look at it for another twenty years..." Gustave Eiffel glanced around the group. "I know that some people think it's ugly," he said. "I think it's magnificent,