Even then they were, he
fancied, in all probability driving down upon his half-finished dam.

Rousing himself with an effort, he clambered out of his bunk, and then
gripped the little table hard, for his hip pained him horribly as his
weight came upon it. Then, as he struggled into his clothing, there
was a heavy thud outside, that was followed by a crashing and
grinding, and a gasping man appeared in the door of the shanty.

"Big log across the run," he cried, "three or four more of them coming
along."

Nasmyth, who said nothing, set his lips tight, and was out of the
shanty in another moment or two. A glance at the river showed him that
any effort he could make would, in all probability, be futile; but he
and the others waded out into the flood and recommenced the struggle.
That, at least, was a thing they owed to themselves, and they toiled
for an hour or two very much as they had done in the darkness; only
that fresh logs were now coming down on them every few minutes, and at
last they recognized that they were beaten. Then they went back
dejectedly, and Nasmyth sat down to breakfast, though he had very
little appetite. He felt that all the strength he had would be needed
that day.

After breakfast he lay among the boulders gnawing his unlighted pipe
and watching the growing mass of driftwood that chafed and ground
against the piles of the dam. Nothing, he recognized, could save the
dam now. It was bound to go, for the piles were only partly backed
with stone, and, in any case, men do not build in that new country as
they do in England. Their needs are constantly varying, and their
works are intended merely to serve the purpose of the hour. It is a
growing country, and the men in it know that the next generation will
not be content with anything that they can do, and, what is more to
the purpose, they themselves will want something bigger and more
efficient in another year or two. Hence the dam was a somewhat frail
and temporary structure of timber as well as stone, but it would
probably have done what was asked of it had it been completed before
the floods set in. As it was, Nasmyth knew that he would see the end
of it before another hour slipped by.

It came even sooner than he had expected. There was a dull crash; the
piles that rose above the flood collapsed, and the mass of grinding
timber drove on across the ruined dam. Then Nasmyth rose, and,
stretching himself wearily, went back to his shanty. He felt