At the banks of the river, Thorpe rapidly issued his directions. The affair had been all prearranged. During the week previous he and his foremen had reviewed the situation, examining the state of the ice, the heads of water in the three dams. Immediately above the first rollways was Dam Three with its two wide sluices2 through which a veritable flood could be loosened at will; then four miles farther lay the rollways of Sadler & Smith, the up-river firm; and above them tumbled over a forty-five foot ledge3 the beautiful Siscoe Falls; these first rollways of Thorpe's--spread in the broad marsh4 flat below the dam--contained about eight millions; the rest of the season's cut was scattered6 for thirty miles along the bed of the river.
Already the ice cementing the logs together had begun to weaken. The ice had wrenched7 and tugged8 savagely9 at the locked timbers until they had, with a mighty10 effort, snapped asunder11 the bonds of their hibernation12. Now a narrow lane of black rushing water pierced the rollways, to boil and eddy13 in the consequent jam three miles below.
To the foremen Thorpe assigned their tasks, calling them to him one by one, as a general calls his aids.
"Moloney," said he to the big Irishman, "take your crew and break that jam. Then scatter5 your men down to within a mile of the pond at Dam Two, and see that the river runs clear. You can tent for a day or so at West Bend or some other point about half way down; and after that you had better camp at the dam. Just as soon as you get logs enough in the pond, start to sluicing14 them through the dam. You won't need more than four men there, if you keep a good head. You can keep your gates open five or six hours. And Moloney."
"Yes, sir."
"I want you to be careful not to sluice1 too long. There is a bar just below the dam, and if you try to sluice with the water too low, you'll center and jam there, as sure as shooting."
Bryan Moloney turned on his heel and began to pick his way down stream over the solidly banked logs. Without waiting the command, a dozen men followed him. The little group bobbed away irregularly into the distance, springing lightly from one timber to the other, holding their quaintly-fashioned peaveys in the manner of a rope dancer's balancing pole. At the lowermost limit of the rollways, each man pried15 a log into the water, and, standing16 gracefully17 erect19 on this unstable20 craft, floated out down the current to the scene of his dangerous labor21.
"Kerlie," went on Thorpe, "your crew can break rollways with the rest until we get the river fairly filled, and then you can move on down stream as fast as you are needed. Scotty, you will have the rear. Tim and I will boss the river."
At once the signal was given to Ellis, the dam watcher. Ellis and his assistants thereupon began to pry22 with long iron bars at the ratchets of the heavy gates. The chore-boy bent23 attentively24 over the ratchet-pin, lifting it delicately to permit another inch of raise, dropping it accurately25 to enable the men at the bars to seize a fresh purchase. The river's roar deepened. Through the wide sluice-ways a torrent26 foamed27 and tumbled. Immediately it spread through the brush on either side to the limits of the freshet banks, and then gathered for its leap against the uneasy rollways. Along the edge of the dark channel the face of the logs seemed to crumble29 away. Farther in towards the banks where the weight of timber still outbalanced the weight of the flood, the tiers grumbled30 and stirred, restless with the stream's calling. Far down the river, where Bryan Moloney and his crew were picking at the jam, the water in eager streamlets sought the interstices between the logs, gurgling excitedly like a mountain brook31.
The jam creaked and groaned32 in response to the pressure. From its face a hundred jets of water spurted33 into the lower stream. Logs up-ended here and there, rising from the bristling34 surface slowly, like so many arms from lower depths. Above, the water eddied35 back foaming36; logs shot down from the rollways, paused at the slackwater, and finally hit with a hollow and resounding37 BOOM! against the tail of the jam. A moment later they too up-ended, so becoming an integral part of the "chevaux de frise."
The crew were working desperately38. Down in the heap somewhere, two logs were crossed in such a manner as to lock the whole. They sought those logs.
Thirty feet above the bed of the river six men clamped their peaveys into the soft pine; jerking, pulling, lifting, sliding the great logs from their places. Thirty feet below, under the threatening face, six other men coolly picked out and set adrift, one by one, the timbers not inextricably imbedded. From time to time the mass creaked, settled, perhaps even moved a foot or two; but always the practiced rivermen, after a glance, bent more eagerly to their work.
Outlined against the sky, big Bryan Moloney stood directing the work. He had gone at the job on the bias39 of indirection, picking out a passage at either side that the center might the more easily "pull." He knew by the tenseness of the log he stood on that, behind the jam, power had gathered sufficient to push the whole tangle40 down-stream. Now he was offering it the chance.
Suddenly the six men below the jam scattered. Four of them, holding their peaveys across their bodies, jumped lightly from one floating log to another in the zigzag41 to shore. When they stepped on a small log they re-leaped immediately, leaving a swirl42 of foam28 where the little timber had sunk under them; when they encountered one larger, they hesitated for a barely perceptible instant. Thus their progression was of fascinating and graceful18 irregularity. The other two ran the length of their footing, and, overleaping an open of water, landed heavily and firmly on the very ends of two small floating logs. In this manner the force of the jump rushed the little timbers end-on through the water. The two men, maintaining marvellously their balance, were thus ferried to within leaping distance of the other shore.
In the meantime a barely perceptible motion was communicating itself from one particle to another through the center of the jam. A cool and observant spectator might have imagined that the broad timber carpet was changing a little its pattern, just as the earth near the windows of an arrested railroad train seems for a moment to retrogress. The crew redoubled its exertions43, clamping its peaveys here and there, apparently44 at random45, but in reality with the most definite of purposes. A sharp crack exploded immediately underneath46. There could no longer exist any doubt as to the motion, although it was as yet sluggish47, glacial. Then in silence a log shifted--in silence and slowly--but with irresistible48 force. Jimmy Powers quietly stepped over it, just as it menaced his leg. Other logs in all directions up-ended. The jam crew were forced continually to alter their positions, riding the changing timbers bent-kneed, as a circus rider treads his four galloping49 horses.
Then all at once down by the face something crashed. The entire stream became alive. It hissed50 and roared, it shrieked51, groaned and grumbled. At first slowly, then more rapidly, the very forefront of the center melted inward and forward and downward until it caught the fierce rush of the freshet and shot out from under the jam. Far up-stream, bristling and formidable, the tons of logs, grinding savagely together, swept forward.
The six men and Bryan Moloney--who, it will be remembered, were on top--worked until the last moment. When the logs began to cave under them so rapidly that even the expert rivermen found difficulty in "staying on top," the foreman set the example of hunting safety.
"She 'pulls,' boys," he yelled.
Then in a manner wonderful to behold52, through the smother53 of foam and spray, through the crash and yell of timbers protesting the flood's hurrying, through the leap of destruction, the drivers zigzagged54 calmly and surely to the shore.
All but Jimmy Powers. He poised55 tense and eager on the crumbling56 face of the jam. Almost immediately he saw what he wanted, and without pause sprang boldly and confidently ten feet straight downward, to alight with accuracy on a single log floating free in the current. And then in the very glory and chaos57 of the jam itself he was swept down-stream.
After a moment the constant acceleration58 in speed checked, then commenced perceptibly to slacken. At once the rest of the crew began to ride down-stream. Each struck the caulks59 of his river boots strongly into a log, and on such unstable vehicles floated miles with the current. From time to time, as Bryan Moloney indicated, one of them went ashore60. There, usually at a bend of the stream where the likelihood of jamming was great, they took their stands. When necessary, they ran out over the face of the river to separate a congestion61 likely to cause trouble. The rest of the time they smoked their pipes.
At noon they ate from little canvas bags which had been filled that morning by the cookee. At sunset they rode other logs down the river to where their camp had been made for them. There they ate hugely, hung their ice-wet garments over a tall framework constructed around a monster fire, and turned in on hemlock62 branches.
All night long the logs slipped down the moonlit current, silently, swiftly, yet without haste. The porcupines63 invaded the sleeping camp. From the whole length of the river rang the hollow BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, of timbers striking one against the other.
The drive was on.
收听单词发音 |
1
sluice
|
|
| n.水闸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
2
sluices
|
|
| n.水闸( sluice的名词复数 )；（用水闸控制的）水；有闸人工水道；漂洗处v.冲洗( sluice的第三人称单数 )；（指水）喷涌而出；漂净；给…安装水闸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
3
ledge
|
|
| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
4
marsh
|
|
| n.沼泽，湿地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
5
scatter
|
|
| vt.撒，驱散，散开；散布/播；vi.分散，消散 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
6
scattered
|
|
| adj.分散的，稀疏的；散步的；疏疏落落的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
7
wrenched
|
|
| v.（猛力地）扭( wrench的过去式和过去分词 )；扭伤；使感到痛苦；使悲痛 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
8
tugged
|
|
| v.用力拉，使劲拉，猛扯( tug的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
9
savagely
|
|
| adv. 野蛮地，残酷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
10
mighty
|
|
| adj.强有力的；巨大的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
11
asunder
|
|
| adj.分离的，化为碎片 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
12
hibernation
|
|
| n.冬眠 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
13
eddy
|
|
| n.漩涡，涡流 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
14
sluicing
|
|
| v.冲洗( sluice的现在分词 )；（指水）喷涌而出；漂净；给…安装水闸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
15
pried
|
|
| v.打听，刺探（他人的私事）( pry的过去式和过去分词 )；撬开 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
16
standing
|
|
| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
17
gracefully
|
|
| ad.大大方方地；优美地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
18
graceful
|
|
| adj.优美的，优雅的；得体的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
19
erect
|
|
| n./v.树立，建立，使竖立；adj.直立的，垂直的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
20
unstable
|
|
| adj.不稳定的，易变的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
21
labor
|
|
| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
22
pry
|
|
| vi.窥(刺)探，打听；vt.撬动(开，起) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
23
bent
|
|
| n.爱好，癖好；adj.弯的；决心的，一心的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
24
attentively
|
|
| adv.聚精会神地；周到地；谛；凝神 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
25
accurately
|
|
| adv.准确地，精确地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
26
torrent
|
|
| n.激流，洪流；爆发，(话语等的)连发 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
27
foamed
|
|
| 泡沫的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
28
foam
|
|
| v./n.泡沫，起泡沫 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
29
crumble
|
|
| vi.碎裂，崩溃；vt.弄碎，摧毁 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
30
grumbled
|
|
| 抱怨( grumble的过去式和过去分词 )； 发牢骚； 咕哝； 发哼声 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
31
brook
|
|
| n.小河，溪；v.忍受，容让 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
32
groaned
|
|
| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
33
spurted
|
|
| （液体，火焰等）喷出，（使）涌出( spurt的过去式和过去分词 )； （短暂地）加速前进，冲刺 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
34
bristling
|
|
| a.竖立的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
35
eddied
|
|
| 起漩涡，旋转( eddy的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
36
foaming
|
|
| adj.布满泡沫的；发泡 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
37
resounding
|
|
| adj. 响亮的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
38
desperately
|
|
| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
39
bias
|
|
| n.偏见，偏心，偏袒；vt.使有偏见 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
40
tangle
|
|
| n.纠缠；缠结；混乱；v.(使)缠绕；变乱 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
41
zigzag
|
|
| n.曲折，之字形；adj.曲折的，锯齿形的；adv.曲折地，成锯齿形地；vt.使曲折；vi.曲折前行 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
42
swirl
|
|
| v.(使)打漩，(使)涡卷；n.漩涡，螺旋形 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
43
exertions
|
|
| n.努力( exertion的名词复数 )；费力；（能力、权力等的）运用；行使 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
44
apparently
|
|
| adv.显然地；表面上，似乎 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
45
random
|
|
| adj.随机的；任意的；n.偶然的(或随便的)行动 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
46
underneath
|
|
| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
47
sluggish
|
|
| adj.懒惰的，迟钝的，无精打采的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
48
irresistible
|
|
| adj.非常诱人的，无法拒绝的，无法抗拒的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
49
galloping
|
|
| adj. 飞驰的, 急性的 动词gallop的现在分词形式 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
50
hissed
|
|
| 发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 )； 发嘘声表示反对 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
51
shrieked
|
|
| v.尖叫( shriek的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
52
behold
|
|
| v.看，注视，看到 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
53
smother
|
|
| vt./vi.使窒息；抑制；闷死；n.浓烟；窒息 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
54
zigzagged
|
|
| adj.呈之字形移动的v.弯弯曲曲地走路，曲折地前进( zigzag的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
55
poised
|
|
| a.摆好姿势不动的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
56
crumbling
|
|
| adj.摇摇欲坠的 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
57
chaos
|
|
| n.混乱，无秩序 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
58
acceleration
|
|
| n.加速，加速度 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
59
caulks
|
|
| vt.堵（船的）缝（caulk的第三人称单数形式） | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
|
60
ashore
|
|
| adv.在(向)岸上，上岸 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
61
congestion
|
|
| n.阻塞，消化不良 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
62
hemlock
|
|
| n.毒胡萝卜，铁杉 | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
|
63
porcupines
|
|
| n.豪猪，箭猪( porcupine的名词复数 ) | |
参考例句： |
|
|
|
| 欢迎访问英文小说网 |