Fifty or more men sprang to his assistance with pick and shovel
wherever one could stand and dig. The water had now reached within
five feet of the top: the rise was slower, showing that the volume
had lessened; the soakage, too, was helping, but the water still
gained. The bottom of the trench, cut transversely across the road
bed of the "fill," out of which the dirt was still flying from
scores of willing shovels, had reached the height of the flood
line. It was wide enough and deep enough to take care of the
slowly rising overflow and would relieve the pressure on the whole
structure; but the danger was not there. What was to be feared was
the scour on the down-stream--far side--slope of the "fill." This
also, was of loose earth: too great a gulch might mean total
collapse.
To lessen this scour MacFarlane had looted a carload of plank
switched on to a siding, and a gang of men in charge of Jack,--who
had now reached his Chief's side,--were dragging them along the
downstream slope to form sluices with which to break the force of
the scour.
Pages:
369
370
371
372
373
374
375
376
377
378
379
380
381
382
383
384
385
386
387
388
389
390
391
392
393