upon
the completion of a track across that county line before noon on the
fifteenth day of March.

Temple had succeeded in getting the work started, but the task was a
Herculean one. Duncan hurried to the scene of action as soon as he
returned from New York to Cairo. He found that the space to be built
over was very low-lying, and that the nearest source of supply for earth
with which to build the high embankment required was nearly two miles
distant.

Temple had begun work at that point. He was extending an embankment
thence toward the point where the county line must be crossed. On this
he was laying a temporary track as fast as it was extended, in order
that his earth cars might be pushed over it with their loads of filling
material.

Duncan's first look at the progress of the work convinced him that it
could not be completed within the time allowed, unless a much larger
working force could be secured.

He instantly telegraphed to Hallam:

Must have more men immediately. If you can send two hundred at once
there is a bare possibility of success, provided weather conditions
do not grow worse. But without that many men failure is inevitable.
Why not send all your miners here?

Hallam, in his habitual way, acted promptly and with vigor. Leaving
Stafford to hire all the men who could be secured in Cairo, he himself
hurried to the mines, and by promising double wages, induced most of the
men there to go for the time being into the work of railroad
construction. Within two or three days the total force at Duncan's
command numbered somewhat more than two hundred men.

"We ought to have fifty or a hundred more," he said, "particularly as
the miners are new to this sort of work; but, as we can't get them, we
must do our best with the force we have."

After consultation with Temple, he divided the force into three shifts,
and kept the work going night and day, without cessation. For a time the
rapid progress made gave Duncan confidence in his ultimate success. In
that confidence Temple shared, but with a reservation.

"I'm afraid we're in for a freshet," he said. "The rivers are all
rising, and the rain is almost continuous now. All this region, except a
hill here and there, lies lower than the flood levels of the Ohio River
on one side, and the Mississippi on the other. If the rise continues, we
shall have both rivers on us within a few days."

"Is there any way in which to meet that difficult