But he was somewhat taken aback by the fact
that it was not.
"Ahem! Well, we can talk it over to-morrow," yawned Coffee.
Neale made no more overtures, busied himself with his notes for an
hour, and then sought his cot.
Next morning, bright and early, Neale went down to the river to make
his close inspection of what had been done toward building Number
Ten. From Colohan he ascertained the number of shafts and coffer-
dams sunk; from the masons he learned the amount of stone cut to
patterns. And he was not only amazed and astounded, but overwhelmed,
and incensed beyond expression. The labor had been prodigious.
Hundreds of tons of material had been sunk there; and that meant
that hundreds of thousands of dollars also had been sunk.
Upon investigation Neale found that, although many cribbings had
been sunk for the piers, they had never been put deep enough. And
there were coffer-dams that did not dam at all--useless, senseless
wastes of time and material, not to say wages. His plans called for
fifty thirty-foot piles driven to bedrock, which, according to the
excavations he had had made at the time of survey, was forty feet
below the surface. Not a pile had been driven! There had been no
solid base for any of the cribbings! No foundations for the piers!
At the discovery the blood burned hot in Neale's face and neck.
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