Then we'll have to
see what we can do to hold them. I think as soon as the driver is
through down at the sorting end, she'd better drive a few clumps of
piles to strengthen the swing when it is shut. Then if the logs
pile down on us from above, we can hold them there."
About two hours later the pile-driver moved up. The swing was
opened; and the men began to drive clumps of piles in such a
position as to strengthen the swing when the latter should be shut.
It was a slow job. Each pile had to be taken from the raft at the
stern of the scow, erected in the "carrier," and pounded into place
by the heavy hammer raised and let drop in the derrick at the bow.
Long before the task was finished, the logs in the temporary booms
had begun to slide atop one another, to cross and tangle, until at
last the river bed inside the booms was filled with a jam of
formidable dimensions. From beneath it the water boiled in eddies.
Orde, looking at it, roused himself to sudden activity.
"Get a move on," he advised Captain Aspinwall of the driver. "If
that jam breaks on us, we want to be ready; and if it don't break
before you get this swing strengthened, maybe we can hold her where
she is. There's no earthly doubt that those boom piles will never
stand up when they get the full pressure of the freshet.
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