it would
stop.

It plowed on through the gravel, which shot up all round, and then the
end of the bank seemed to fall away. There was a shower of stones; the
butt of the log went down and its after end tilted up. Then it lurched
out of sight and there was a heavy crash below. After this Festing
heard a confused din, and imagined, though he could not see, the mass
of timber plunging down the precipitous slope, smashing rocks and
scattering gravel as it went. The noise stopped, he heard a splash, and
as the following logs leaped the broken bank, the first shot half its
length out of water, and falling again, drove down stream.

The rope at the island caught it while a trolley ran down, but the
straining wire curved and parted, and the trolley fell into the river as
the log swept on. The others followed and vanished in a turmoil of muddy
foam, and Festing went down to the track. Things might have been worse,
for nobody was hurt, although some yards of road-bed had been carried
away and a derrick he had built to put the logs on the cars was smashed.
As he studied the damage a wet and angry engineer ran up.

"You have got to stop your blamed logs jumping down like that! They've
broken a steel rope and there's a new trolley-skip in the river!"

"I'm sorry," Festing answered. "I'll try to get the skip out as soon as
possible, and you can trust me to stop more logs getting away, for my
own sake."

"There'll be trouble if you let your lumber loose on me, and I want the
skip soon," said the other. "A stranger asked for you a few minutes ago
and I sent him up the hill."

He went away and Festing's men came up.

"Pretty rough luck, boss!" one remarked. "What are we going to do about
it?"

"We'll grade up the gravel dump to begin with, and then make a new
derrick," Festing answered gloomily. "It doesn't look as if I'd get much
profit on the first week's work."

He moved off, and as he scrambled up the bank met a man coming down.
Both stopped abruptly and Festing frowned.

"What in thunder has brought you, Bob?" he asked.

"They told me you were up the hill," Charnock said, smiling. "I came in
on the last construction train."

"But why did you come?"

"I suppose you mean--Why did I come to bother you again? Well, the
explanation will take some time, and it's confoundedly muddy and raining
hard. When are you likely to be unoccupied?"

Festing tried to control his annoyance. The accident had disturbed him
and he was