Part 36 (1/2)
”A sullen hog!” Jake remarked ”I'd like to knohen he or the old man moved the wire”
”So would I It's rather i about and ca as soon as the car took the ditch, he probably sawwere you inthe spot after you heard the smash?”
”Perhaps five minutes Mordaunt's car was at the steps and we jumped on board while he started her”
”If you had lost ine you'd have found me dead”
”Then why did you offer Shanks a job?”
Jim smiled ”In order to have hierous when he's out of sight”
”Shanks and his son are bad un-et after you for eness is half-instinctive, like the Indian's I can't, so to speak, locate hiot up ”It's not i his horses and we'll get busy”
CHAPTER VIII
JIM'S RELAPSE
Jian to rain For so ind drove dark clouds across the sea, the hills rapped in h Floods spread about thetheir loads through the bog So threatened to cost ht
Then cah the sun shone, heavy clouds rolled about the hills Ji the fine weather would not last, drove his men hard, since there ork he must push forward before the next flood The new bank had reached a creek where he ate and hold back the water by a rude coffer-da for the foundation
He came up from the da down into the hole His long boots, shi+rt, and trousers were stained by mud that had also splashed his face and hands; for since the as risky he had helped theBelow hih the joints in a wall of thick planks and ran into the excavation, where a few e stood on the top of the bank and the sly-builtthrough; pressure's heavier than I reckoned and I don't like the way that brace sags,” Jim remarked, as a shower of mud and water fell into the hole Then he shouted to the e her up”
”Looks as if the fastenings of the brace had slipped,” said Jake
”They oughtn't to slip The plate and nut on the iron were meant to keep the beam in place”
”I don't think I saw a nut when the boys fixed the thing”
Jiood workman, he was obstinate and Jim had not bothered him much until he needed some irons for the dam, when heto his plans This had caused some trouble and Jim now meant to be firm
”I reckon I told you to screw the ends of the bar and ainst the plates,” he said ”Did you screw the ends?”
”I did not,” said the other ”There was nae use for nuts I punched hole for pin that wad stop her pulling oot”
”Pulling out!” Jiether?”
”If yon wasn't what you wanted, you should have said”
Jim had meant to be calm, but the men had run some risk from the fellow's obstinacy, and he lost his control
”I told you to screw the ends Confound you! The dam's in compression; there's no pull at all Put a new bar in the vise and I'll stand by while you cut the thread”