The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1902-10-12
Continued From Last Sunday)
CHAPTER VII.

Railway returned 10 camp Dy lht
sixth of January. He went on snow
shoes over the entire job: and then
sat silently in the Office smoking. The
jobber looked older The lines of dry
good humor about his eyes had subtly
changed to an expression of pathetic
anxiety. He attached no blame to any
body. but rose the next morning at
horn-nIow. and the men found that
they had a new master over them.
Now IT became necessary to put the
roads in shape for hauling. All winter
the blacksmith had occupied his time
in fitting the homework on eight log
sleighs which the carpenter had hewed
from solid sticks of timber. They we're
tremendous affairs. with runners SIX
feet apart, and hunks nine feet in wldth
for the reception of logs. The carpenter
had also built two immense tanks on
runners, holding each some seventy
barrels of water. and with holes so ar
ranged that on the withdrawal of plugs
the water would flood the entire width
of the road. The sprinklers were filled
by horse power. A chain running
through blocks attached to solid up
per framework, like the open belfry OF
an italian monastery, dragged bar
rel up a wooden track from water
hole to an opening in the sprinkler.
When in action this formidable ma
chine weighed nearly two tons and re-
sembled a moving house Other man
had felled two big hemlocks. from
which they had hewed beams for a
pillow.
The V plow was now put in action.
six horses drew it down the road, each
pair superintendent by driver. The
machine was weighted down by
number of logs laid across the arms.
Men guided it by levers, and by throw
ing their weight against the fans of
the plow. 1t. was a gay, animated scene,
this, full of the spirit of winter-the
plodding, straining horses. the brill
l:antly dressed, struggling men, the
sullen-yielding snow thrown to either
side, the shouts. warnings and com
-nands. To right and left grew white
banks of snow. Behind, stretched
broad white path in which a scant inch
hid the bare earth.
For some distance the way led along
comparatively high ground. Then,
skirting the edge of lake, it plunged
into a. deep creek bottom between hills.
Here. earlier in the year, eleven
bridges had been constructed; and per-
haps as many swampy places had been
"corduroyed" by carpeting them with
long parallel poles. Now the first diff
Guilty began.
Some of the bridges had sunk below
the level, and the approaches had to
be corduroyed to a practicable grade.
Others again were bumped up like TOM
cats. and had to be pulled apart en-
tirely.
Still. that sort of thing was to be ex-
pected. A gang of men who followed
the pillow carried axes and cant-hooks
for the purpose of repairing extern
poraneously just such defects which
never would have been discovered 9TH
erwise than by the practical expert
ence. Railway himself accompanied
the plow Thorpe, who went along as
one of the road monkeys" saw now
why such care had been required Of
him in smoothing the way Of stubs,
knots and hummocks.
When the road had been partly clean
ed, Railway started one of his sprink-
lers. Water holes of suitable size had
been blown in the creek bank by dy-
Mantle. There the machines were ALI
ed. Stratton attached his horse to the
chain and drove him back and forth,
hauling the barrel up and down the
slideway. At the bottom it was cap
sized and filled by means of a long pole
shackled to its bottom and manipulated
by old man Heath. At the top it
turned over by its own weight. Thus
seventy odd times.
Then Fred Green hitched his team
on. and the four horses drew the creak
ing, cumbrous vehicle spouting down
the road. Water gushed in fans from
the openings on either side and be-
meath; and in streams from two holes
behind. Not for an instant as long as
the flow continued dared the transfers
breathe their horses for a pause would
freeze the runners tight to the ground.
A tongue at either end obviated the
necessity of turning around.
That night it turned warmer. The
change was heralded by shift of wind.
She's a goin' to rain" said old Jack
son. THE air is kind o. holler"
Hollow" said Thorpe, laughing.
How is that?"
ct dom no." confessed Hines, "but
she is. She just feels that way"
In the morning the icicles dripped
from the roof, and the snow became
peck marked on the surface.
Railway was down looking at the
road.
She's holdin' her own" said he,
''but there amt any use putting more
water on her. She amt freezing a
mite. Well pillow her OUT
So they finished the job. and plowed
her out, leaving exposed the wet,
marshy surface of the creek bottom,
on which at night thin crust formed.
She'll freeze a little tonight" said
Railway, hopefully. You sprinkler
boys get at her and wet her down"
Until o'clock in the morning the
four teams and the six men creaked
back and forth spilling hardly-gathered
water. Then they crept in and ate
sleepily the food that a sleep cookie
set out for them.
By morning the mere surface of the
sprinkled water had frozen. Railway
looked in despair at the sky. Dimly
through the gray he caught the tint of
blue.
The sun came out. Nut-hatches and
woodpeckers ran gayly up the warm
ing trunks of the trees. Bluejays fluff
ed and perked and screamed in the
hardwood tops. A covey Of grouse
ventured from the swamp and strut
ted vainly, a pause of contemplation
between each step. Railway walking
out on the tramped road of the marsh,
cracked the artificial skin and thrust
his foot through into icy water. That
night the sprinklers stayed in.
The devil seemed in it. Men were
lying idle, teams were doing the same.
Nothing went on but the days of the
year; and four of them had already
licked off the calendar. The deep snow
of the unusually cold autumn had now
disappeared from the tops of the
stumps. 1t even stopped freezing dur