“I think she’ll come across, and if we can get the bolts through the bottom lugs, we ought to fix the top. Anyhow, I’ll go up. Keep the boys to it.”
He had got Austin’s coat and, in the snow and turmoil, he thought the men would not know him from Bob; they were much the same height and build. Jumping for a tie-rod, he went up into the snow, and when a beam from a lamp searched the spot he reached, the torn slicker was conspicuous. Underneath were two small platforms and the angry flood. His hands were numb and his skin smarted, but after all the snow was wet. Flesh and blood could not labor in the frost that dries the snow to dust.
He shouted. A straining wire rope groaned and the bottom of the truss jarred the column. Kit took a bolt from a workman and went down an inclined rod. A man on the opposite column waved his arms, as if to indicate that the end was fast, and Kit guided the bored steel strap to the proper spot. The end moved very slowly, but it did move; the holes were almost opposite, and although the heavy frame oscillated in the wind, he thought in a few moments he would push in the bolt. Then a noise disturbed him and he saw Austin was coming up.
Kit frowned. Bob ought not to risk the climb; but he must concentrate on guiding the strap to the socket and he could hardly use his stiff hands. He pushed the bolt through the holes and straightened his back. The job was not finished, but the worst strain was over. They had put the truss where it ought to go and the bolts would hold until all was fast.
Then Kit remembered Austin. Bob had stopped, as if he saw he was not needed. He turned and pushed his hand along a bar, and Kit thought he meant to go down. A foreman shouted, and the wire tackles running from the girder overhead went slack. A big iron pulley dropped a foot or two and the hook it carried disengaged. Kit doubted if the hook struck Austin, but it looked as if he heard the noise and tried to avoid the shock. His boots rattled on the iron and his shoulders went back. Kit saw he was letting go, and he swung himself down to a fresh support and put his arm round the other.
“Stick tight!” he said. “I’ll help you to the ladder.”
They reached the ladder, but the effort cost Kit much, and when he saw Austin take hold he stopped to get his breath.
“If you can reach the platform, we’ll send you up in the skip,” he gasped.
“I think I can make it,” said Austin, and they went down.
At the platform Kit pushed Austin to a tool-box. Snow blew about, the lamp’s flame tossed and all was indistinct. The current broke noisily against the piers and the wind screamed in the bridge. When a foreman advanced Kit bent his head.