"
He departed up river on a tour of inspection from which he returned
almost immediately.
"Hurry up! Hurry up!" he cried. "She can't last much longer!"
Indeed even to the men on the pile-driver, evidences of the pressure
sustained by the slender boom piles were not wanting. Above the
steady gurgle of the water and the intermittent puffing and other
noises of the work, they could hear a creaking and groaning of
timbers full of portent to those who could read the signs.
The driver's crew laboured desperately, hoisting the piles into the
carriage, tripping the heavy hammer, sending it aloft again, binding
feverishly the clumps of piles together by means of cables. Each
man worked with an eye over his shoulder, fearful of the power that
menaced him.
Two of the clumps had been placed and bound; a third was nearly
finished, when suddenly, with a crack and a roar the upper booms
gave way, projecting their logs upon the opening and the driver.
The half dozen members of the crew, caught utterly unaware in spite
of the half warning they had been receiving for an hour past, were
scattered by the winds of a panic. Two or three flung themselves on
their faces; several ran from one end of the scow to the other; one
leaped into the river! Imminent destruction seemed upon them.
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