"Tryin' t' put a ruf on the world," my companion shouted.
"Swingin' ther hammers hard on the rivets."

A little peak of green vapor showed above the sky-line. It loomed
high as we looked. It grew into a lofty column, reeling far above
the forest. Below it we could see a mighty heaving in the
tree-tops. Something like an immense bird was hurtling and
pirouetting in the air above them. The tower of green looked now
like a great flaring bucket hooped with fire and overflowing with
darkness. Our ears were full of a mighty voice out of the heavens.
A wind came roaring down some tideway of the air like water in a
flume. It seemed to tap the sky. Before I could gather my
thoughts we were in a torrent of rushing air, and the raft had
begun to heave and toss. I felt D'ri take my hand in his. I could
just see his face, for the morning had turned dark suddenly. His
lips were moving, but I could hear nothing he said. Then he lay
flat, pulling me down. Above and around were all the noises that
ever came to the ear of man--the beating of drums, the bellowing of
cattle, the crash of falling trees, the shriek of women, the rattle
of machinery, the roar of waters, the crack of rifles, the blowing
of trumpets, the braying of asses, and sounds the like of which I
have never heard and pray God I may not hear again, one and then
another dominating the mighty chorus. Behind us, in the gloom, I
could see, or thought I could see, the reeling mass of green
ploughing the water, like a ship with chains of gold flashing over
bulwarks of fire. In a moment something happened of which I have
never had any definite notion. I felt the strong arm of D'ri
clasping me tightly. I heard the thump and roll and rattle of the
logs heaping above us; I felt the water washing over me; but I