The morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1899-1930, 1905-10-08

much rejoicing. They had been sun
IN the muddy bed Of the stream a di
tance OF sixty feet. and they towere
almost as high above the surface.
had taken thousands Of tons OF ston
and thousands OF bags OF cement an
hundreds Of days work 10 complct
these piers. They had had the labo
OF thousand men and fifty elephant
When they were finished hollda
was given TO all the workmen. an
the chief engineer gnzed proudly a
his work and said.
They are done at last. Floods ma,
roll down-earthquakcs may toppl
down forests-come what may, an,
my piers will stand here when a thou
sand years have passed away"
1T Ii 20. sahIb-lt Ia So" answered
tho voice Of q thousand natives. ant
then they cheered him and his work.
When q thousand native Indiar
workmen are employed together OF
one Job there are three or four castles
There are masons, carpenters. elephant
drivers. shoveiers. boatmsn and whaI
not There Ii enmity between ths
castes. there 10 Jealousy between the
different trades. there 10 chance ever
hour In the day for n general riot. and
NE men must be under strict dis
: cipllne. The supcrintendent's word
must be law from which there 10 no
appeal. A culprit II not told TO 20
hence, because no has bound himself
and the company has bound itself. He
is punished by fne, imprisonment or
the lash. Because Of this custom this
news ran through camp one morning:
at the hour OF high noon today the
flag OF punishment will be raised on tho
stan. and Kim Nassik will be tied to
the post and noggcd. Three times has
his oyersecr warned him. and three
times has he mut,ercd and cursed be.
low his breath and failed 10 amend his
conduct. Kiln Nassik is lazy. and be
has made Bundara. his elephant. the
same. When both driver and elephant
are lazy, the work fags. One man and
his beast can hinder hundred others.
II Ia right that KIM Nassik should bc
well nogged."
When the elephant driver. after sey.
eral warnings, had been sentenced TO
punishment. he replied to tho superin.
fendent:
"Your words are true. sahlb. and !
would not have you take them back.
I have been lacking In diligence. aud
Bundara has agreed with me. but we
have a reason. A few Sundays ago be
got loose and ran away TO the jungle
We hunted for him for hours. When
we finally came upon him be was talk
ing with q wild elephant He came 10
me at my bidding. but that night, when
all the camp was asleep, he whispered
IN my ear that we were frciting the
river; TINT the waters were growing
and complaining: that some evil would
surely fall upon Us II We damned
them back. For million years the
Goomtrce has had free flow 10 the sen.
Could Il be otherwise than that she
should be angry and that some disas.
ter should befall usf'
"How Ia II with the trees-with the
grass-with all else that man usesr
asked the official. IF the river Is a
million years old men have used her
for a million years. Thousands OF
boats and RATS have nonted down her
current and she has not complained.
Men must travel. and they must have
bridges on which TO cross streams.
We have not damned the current
back. There IL plenty OF room for II
10 flow onward. Bundara Ii big.
strong beast. but he ls lazy He has
told you this story that he may have
less work TO do You shall have twen-
~ lashes at the post before all men,
and Bundara shall also look on as a
warning 10 tell no more lles,"
AS you will. sahlb."
At noon the whipping took place, but
the punishment was not severe. IL
was because Of the moral effect that
Il was inflicted. Kim Nasslk's ele-
phant was there, and he dropped his
head and tears ran from his eyes They
said he felt pity for bis master and
that his conscience troubled him. To
spare the feelings OF man and beast,
the superintendent gave them half a
day of the works-half day In which |
10 repent and decide 10 do better In
the future
At sundown all labor ceased and II |
was reported that Nasslk and his beast
had gone TO the junglcs. That was a
serious offense. The elephant was gov
ernment property and was hired to
the railroad company AZ 50 much per |
day. Nasslk had been his mahout for |
ten years, but he was no more, He
had incurred a serious penalty by fee.
Ing, and a party was made to bring |
him back, but they hunted In vain. In
four weeks the Incident was almost
forgotten.
In time the great Iron beams were |
stretched from pier TO pier, and cross
beams and girders were put In place,
and from sunup to sundown the hot
air quIyered under the strokes OF the
scores Of hammers. The approaches
were flled In and spans laid to the
piers, and the chief engineer looked
over his work with n smile Of satisfac-
ton.
"All is going WELL" he said TO him
.Ats uYn annthar olxtv dava tho iron