one o'clock
Presently one stood clear , waving a signal . Again the donkey began to puff and quiver , the line began to roll up on the drum , and the big yarder walked up the slope under its own power , a locomotive unneedful of rails , making its own right of way . Upon the platform built over the skids were piled the tools of the crew , sawed blocks for the fire box , axes , saws , grindstones , all that was necessary in their task . At one o'clock they made their first move . At two the donkey was vanished into that region where the chute-head lay , and the great firs stood waiting the slaughter . By mid-afternoon Stella noticed an acceleration of numbers in the logs that came hurtling lakeward . Now at shorter intervals arose the grinding sound of their arrival , the ponderous splash as each leaped to the water .