ding
feverishly the clumps of piles together by means of cables. Each man
worked with an eye over his shoulder, fearful of the power that menaced
him.

Two of the clumps had been placed and bound; a third was nearly
finished, when suddenly, with a crack and a roar the upper booms gave
way, projecting their logs upon the opening and the driver.

The half dozen members of the crew, caught utterly unaware in spite
of the half warning they had been receiving for an hour past, were
scattered by the winds of a panic. Two or three flung themselves on
their faces; several ran from one end of the scow to the other; one
leaped into the river! Imminent destruction seemed upon them.

Tom North, at the winch that operated the arm of the swing, however,
retained his presence of mind. At the first sag outward of the boom
piles he set in operation the machinery that closed the gate. Clumsy and
slow as was his mechanism, he nevertheless succeeded in getting the
long arm started. The logs, rushing in back of it, hurried it shut.
Immediately they jammed again, and heaped up in a formidable tangle
behind the barrier. Tom North, his little black pipe between his teeth,
stood calm, the lever of his winch in his hand. A short three feet from
the spot on which he stood, the first saw log of the many that might
have overwhelmed him thrust forward its ugly head. The wash of the water
lifted the huge pile-driver bodily and deposited it with a crash half on
the bank and half in the water.

Instantly after the first break Orde had commenced running out over the
booms from the shore.

"Good boy, Tom!" he shot at North as he passed.

Across the breast of the jam he hurried, and to the other bank where
the pile-driver lay. The crew had recovered from their panic, and were
ashore gazing curiously underneath the scow. Captain Aspinwall examined
the supports of the derrick on deck.

"That was lucky," said Orde briefly to Aspinwall. "How's the damage?
Stove you in?"

"I--I don't think so," replied the captain, turning a rather perturbed
face to Orde.

"That's good. I'll send over the tug to help get her afloat. We've got
our work cut out for us now. As soon as you're afloat, blow your whistle
and I'll come over to tell you what to do."

"You don't expect me to work my driver under the face of that jam!"
cried the captain.

"Certainly," snapped Orde, wheeling.

"Not me!" said Aspinwall positively. "I know when I've got enough!"

"What's t