Some of the construction gangs were laid off, but in places men were at work.  They looked small and feeble on the vast white slope, and a few plumes of smoke seemed to curl futilely out of the hollow.  Frost and snow defied man’s engine power, and the rattle of the machines was lost in the din the river made.  Its channel was full of snow that had frozen in the honey-combed masses, and the ragged floes broke with a harsh, ringing crash.  Others screamed as they smashed among the rocks and ground across ledges, while the tall cliffs on the opposite bank flung the echoes far among the pines.  The uproar rose and sank, but its throbbing note voiced a challenge to human effort, and Charnock admitted that had the choice been left to him, he would have gone back to the warm shack and waited for better conditions.

Festing, however, would wait for nothing, and Kerr and Norton were equally resolute.  Just now Festing was clearing away the snow while three or four men cautiously descended the bank, dragging loads of branches.  A big fire was soon lighted, and when the resinous wood broke into snapping flame Festing cleared a spot farther on for another.  By and by he scattered the first, the thawed surface was pierced, and a hole dug.  Then with half an hour’s savage labor they got the first big post on end.  The next broke the supporting tackle and a man narrowly escaped when it fell, but they raised it again and got to work upon the braces.  The wood was unseasoned and hard with frozen sap.  Saw and auger would scarcely bite, but somehow they cut the notches and bored the holes.  When the first frame was roughly stayed Charnock sat down with a breathless laugh.

“I suppose it’s the best job we can make and it’s up to specification.  Still, when one comes to think of it, the optimism of these railroad men is remarkable.  Green wood and uncovered bolts that will soon work loose in the rotting pine!  If I was an engineer, the thing would frighten me.”

“The track will stand while they want it,” Festing answered with an impatient look.  “Long before it gets shaky they’ll pull it down.”

“Pulling things down is a national habit.  A man I met in Winnipeg bought a nearly new hotel because he thought he could put up a better building on the site.  However, I suppose there’s something to be said for his point of view.  Progress implies continuous moving on!”

“It does,” said Festing.  “While you moralize, the men you ought to put to work are standing still.”

Charnock got up and went off, beating his hands.  He noted that there was a hole in the mittens he had brought from home.  This was annoying because Sadie had given him the mittens.  In spite of many difficulties, they braced the posts securely before they stopped work, and when supper was over Charnock reluctantly put on his coat.  He wanted to ask Norton something, and when he left the latter’s office came back along a narrow path above the track.  After going a short distance he stopped to look down at the half-finished frames.