Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-12-31
HIs there any danger ?''


 to make current enough to hurt. They've had a hard rain up above. This will go down in few hours" After a time the tug puffed up to the booms, escorting the pile driver. The latter lowed little raft of long, sharp ened piles, which 1t at once began to drive in sucs positions as would most effectually strengthen the booms. In the meantime the thunder heads had slyly climbed the heavens, so that a sudden deluge of rain surprised the workmen. For an hour it poured down in torrents, then settled to steady gray beat: Immediately the aspect had changed.
 Solly, the tug captain, looked at his mooring hawsers and then at the near. est crib.
 She's rig two inches in tn last two hours,'' he announced, land she's run nin' like mill race" Solly was typical north country tug captain, short and broad, with a brown, clear face and the steadiest and calmest of steel blue eyes. "When she begins to feel tn pressure behind" he went on, there's gofn' to be trouble"
 Toward dusk she began to feel that pressure. Through the rainy twilight the logs could be seen raising their ghostly arms of protest. Slowly, with out tumult, the jam formed. In the rear they pressed in, were sucked un- der in the swift water and came to rest at the bottom of the river. The current of the river began to protest, pressing it's hydraulics through the nar- rowing crevices. The situation demand ed attention.
 A breeze began to pull offshore in the body of rain. Little by little it in- creased, sending the water by in gusts, ruffiing the already hurrying river into greater haste, raising far from the shore dimly perceived whitecaps. Be- tween the roaring of the wind, the dash of rain and the rush of the stream men had to shout to make themselves heard
 Guess you'd better rout out the boss," screamed Solly to Wallace Car penter saThis waters comin' up an inch an hour right along. When she backs up once she'll push this jam out sure"
 Wallace ran to the boarding house and reused his partner from a heavy sleep. The latter understood the situa- ton at word. While dressing he ex- plained to the younger man wherein lay the danger.
 'If the jam breaks once," said he, nothing top of earth can prevent it from going out into the lake, and there it II scatter heaven knows where. Once scattered 1t is practically total loss"
 They felt blindly through the rain in the direction of the lights on the tug and pile driver. Shearer, the water dripping from his faxen mustache, joined them like shadow. At the river he announced his opinion. we can hold her all right" he assured them. Tt Fl take few more piles. but by morning the storm I'll be over, and she'll begin to go down again.
 The three picked their way over the creaking, swaying timber. But when they reached the pile driver they found trouble afoot. The crew had mutinied and refused longer to drive piles un- der the face of the jam.
 'Tf she breaks away she's going to bury us." said they.
 ''she won't break" snapped Shearer. "Get to work"
 ''It's dangerous" they objected sul- lenly.
 "You get off this driverr' shouted Solly. "Go over and lie down in ten acre lot and see if you feel safe therev
 He drove them ashore with storm of profanity and multitude of kicks, his steel blue eyes blazing.
 There's nothing for it but to get the boys out again." said Tim. 'I kinder hate to do it."
 But when the Fighting Forty, half asleep but dauntless, took charge of the driver catastrophe made itself known. One of the ejected men had ripped the lifting chain of the ham, mer after another had knocked away the heavy preventing block, and so the hammer had fallen into the river and was lost. None other was to be had. The pile driver was useless.
 A dozen men were at once dispatched for cables, chains and wire ropes from the supply at the warehouse.
 ''Its part of the same trick" said Thorpe grimly. "Those fellows have their men everywhere among us. I don't know whom to trust.''
 You think it's Morrison & Daily? querted Carpenter, astonished.
 "Think? I know it. They know as we'll as you or I that If we save these logs we'll win out in the Stock Elk change and they're not such fools as to let us save them if 1t can be helped"
 What are you going to do nowY' The only thing there IS to be done. We'll string heavy booms chained to- gether between the cribs and then trust to heaven they'll hold. I think we can hold the jam. The water will begin to flow over the bank before 1 long, so there won't be much increase of pressure over what we have now, and as there won't be any shock to withstand I think our heavy booms will do the business."