hoegbotton and sons , with their customary twinned avarice and industry , had unearthed vast coal deposits in the mountainous western reaches of the kalif 's empire , waged a private war to wrest the disputed area from the control of the kalif 's generals , and then , through a crippling act of sheer will , ripped the old steam engines from their deathlike slumber in ambergris ' metal graveyards , refurbished them , straightened and derusted by various unarcane means , and set them back on track .