"I hate to fidget and forebode. But I--I almost wish that I could make Ned forebode a little. I'm afraid he ought to worry. And Roderick ought to be a little anxious, too."
Suddenly the telephone bell rang. Sally Lou sprang to answer it.
"Yes, this is the contract camp. A Chicago call? Is it--Is it head-quarters? Oh, is this _Mr. Breckenridge_ who is speaking? Shall I call Mr. Burford?"
Strong and clear across two hundred miles of storm the voice reached her, a hurrying command.
"Do not call your husband. No time. Operator says the wind raging here may break connections at any minute. Tell him that we have positive word that a tremendous rise is on the way. A cloudburst north of Huntsville started this new crest two hours ago. Moreover, a storm belt extends across the State, covering a district thirty miles wide directly north of you. Tell our engineers to spare neither money nor effort in making ready. Tell them, whatever else they must neglect, to save----"
The receiver dropped from Sally Lou's shaking hand. Not another sound came over the wire. She signalled frantically.
"Oh, if he had only told me! 'To save'--to save _what_? The machinery, the levee, the laterals--Oh, central, please, please!"
Still no sound. At last central's voice, a thin little whisper.
"Chicago connections broken ... terrible storm ... sorry can't reach----"
The thin little whisper dropped to silence.
"Mammy, take these babies. I'm going away." Sally Lou rolled Thomas Tucker off her lap and dashed away to Roderick's shack. Trembling, she poured out her ill news.
"This means business." Roderick, heavy-eyed and stupid, struggled into hip boots and slicker. "Breckenridge isn't frightening us for nothing. We daren't lose a minute. Come along, Burford."
"Come along--where?" Burford stood stunned before this bewildering menace. "What more can we do? Aren't we rushing the whole plant to the danger notch of speed as it is?"
"There is one thing we must do. Decide what part of the work we can abandon. Then put our whole force, men, machinery, and all, to work at the one point where it will do the most good."
"What can we abandon? It's all equally important."
"That is for you and me to decide. Come along."
"If Breck had only finished his sentence! 'To save--' Surely he meant for us to save the dredges?"