Declining Jane's kindly meant offer of a lift, he walked back to
town.
XV
The new firm plunged busily into its more pressing activities. Orde
especially had an infinitude of details on his hands. The fat note-
book in his side pocket filled rapidly with rough sketches, lists,
and estimates. Constantly he interviewed men of all kinds--
rivermen, mill men, contractors, boat builders, hardware dealers,
pile-driver captains, builders, wholesale grocery men, cooks, axe-
men, chore boys--all a little world in itself.
The signs of progress soon manifested themselves. Below Big Bend
the pile-drivers were at work, the square masses of their hammers
rising rapidly to the tops of the derricks, there to pause a moment
before dropping swiftly to a dull THUMP! They were placing a long,
compact row, which should be the outer bulwarks separating the
sorting-booms from the channel of the river. Ashore the carpenters
were knocking together a long, low structure for the cook-house and
a larger building, destined to serve as bunk-house for the regular
boom-crew. There would also be a blacksmith's forge, a storehouse,
a tool and supply-house, a barn, and small separate shanties for the
married men.
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