eight o’clock in the evening
Yet in spite of all precautions , big logs now and then came bumping against the dams , and shot with wild gyrations and somersaults down into the brown eddies below . The engineer , who was standing on the top of a log pile , had shouted until he was hoarse , and gesticulated with his cane until his arms were lame , but yet there was a great deal to do before he could go to bed with an easy conscience . Bonnyboy and his comrades , who had had by far the harder part of the task , were ready to drop with fatigue . It was now eight o'clock in the evening , and they had worked since six in the morning , and had scarcely had time to swallow their scant rations . Some of them began to grumble , and the engineer had to coax and threaten them to induce them to persevere for another hour . The moon was just rising behind the mountain ridges , and the beautiful valley lay , with its green fields , sprouting forests , and red-painted farm-houses , at Bonnyboy 's feet . It was terrible to think that perhaps destruction was to overtake those happy and peaceful homes , where men had lived and died for many hundred years .