After a glance at
the river, he entered the tiny office and set about the examination
of the tally sheets left by the foreman. While he was engaged in
this checking, the foreman, Tom North, entered.
"The river's rising a little"? he remarked conversationally as he
reached for the second set of tally boards.
"You're crazy," muttered Orde, without looking up. "It's clear as a
bell; and there have been no rains reported from anywhere."
"It's rising a little, just the same," insisted North, going out.
An hour later Orde, having finished his clerical work, walked out
over the booms. The water certainly had risen; and considerably at
that. A decided current sucked through the interstices in the
piling. The penned logs moved uneasily.
"I should think it was rising!" said Orde to himself, as he watched
the slowly moving water. "I wonder what's up. It can't be merely
those rains three days ago."
He called one of the younger boys to him, Jimmy Powers by name.
"Here, Jimmy," said he, "mark one of these piles and keep track of
how fast the water rises."
For some time the river remained stationary, then resumed its slow
increase. Orde shook his head.
"I don't like June floods," he told Tom North.
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