Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1904-02-18

10 Indkc CURRENT NhVub" y" $3.50 -
They've had hard rain up above.
This will 20 down in few hours"
After a time the tug puffed up to the
booms, escortlng the pile driver. The
latter lowed a little raft Of long. sharp
ened piles, which 1t at once began to
drive in such positions a. would most
efYectually 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.
SoIly. the tug captain. looked at his
mooring hawsers and then at the near
est crib
shes riz two inches In tn last two
hours" he announced. land shes run
MIN like a mill race" Solly was a
typical north country tug captain. short
and broad, with 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 goin' 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 I'M
der in the swift water and came to
rest at the bottom of the river The
current of the river began to protest
pressing its hydraulics through the mar
rowing crcvices. 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,
rufliing 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
pcntcr. This waters comm 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
I and reused his partner from heavy
sleep. The latter understood the situa-
ton at word. While dressing he OK
planned TO the younger man wherein
lay the danger.
IF the jam breaks once" said he,
nothing top Of earth can prevent 1t
from going out into the lake, and there
/ it II scatter heaven knows where. Once
] scattered ii 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 iaxen mustachc,
| Joined them like n shadow. At the
river he announced his opinion. 1--WE
can hold her all right" he assured
/ them. 1T II take a few more piles. hut
! by morning the storm II 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 founc
trouble afoot The crew had mutinied
and refused longer to drive piles un'
der the face of the jam.
"If she breaks away she's going &c
bury u.s." said they.
"Shc won't break snapped Shearcr
"Get to work"
It's dangerous" they objected sui
lenly.
You get off this driver" shouted
Sol!y. "Go over and lie down in Il te!
acre lot and see if YOU feel safe there!
Ilc drove them ashore with Il storm
Of profanity and n multitude of kicks
his steel blue eyes blazing.
There's nothing for it but to get
the boys out again" said Tim 81
kinder hate to do it,
But when the Fighting Forty, hall
asleep but dauntless. took charge of Tho
driver Il catastrophe made Itself
known. one of the elected men haL
tripped the lifting chain of the ham
mcr after another lad knocked away
the heavy preventing block. and 81
the hammer had fallen into the river
and was lost. None other was to bt
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" sale
Thorpe grimly. Those fellows have
their men everywhere among us.
don't know whom 10 trust"
you think It's Morrison & DalyT'
Quericd Carpenter, astOnshed.
"Thnk: | know it. They know n
we'll rs YOU or that if we save thes'
logs We'll win out in the Stock EX
change, and they're not such fools a
to let us save them if il can be helped.
What are you going to do now"
"Thc only thing there is to be done
Wen string heavy booms chained Ia
gciher between the cribs and thel
trust to heaven thcy'll hold. thinl
we can hold the jam. The water viii
begin to flow over the bank before
long so there won't be much incrcas
of pressure over what we have now
and rs there wont be any shock t,
Withstand | think our heavy boom
will do tia business
lie turned to direct the boring o
some long ,%om logs in preparation 70
the chains. Suddenly he whirled agail
to Wallace with so strange an expires
sion in his face that the young man al
most cried out. The uncertain light o
the lanterns showed dmly the streak