noon
They slipped and floundered as they plodded through the soft snow . Sometimes the log ran for a few yards , crushing down the surface , but it often sank overhead and the team struggled hard to drag it out . For all that , Charnock reached the top of the slope , and turning back , widened the trail he had made . The next log ran easier , although it gave him trouble , but when he stopped at noon he had beaten down a road . When they started again he left the team to somebody else and joined the men who were clearing out a trough down the hill . This was harder work , but the small contractor finds it pays to give his men a lead instead of orders , and for a time Charnock used the shovel and his feet . Then Festing said they had better move a few logs as far as they would go , and they worked the first trunk down hill with handspikes and tackles .