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But if the great blocks were raised by a mob of naked Picts, or any tribe that knew none of the mechanical powers but the lever, how did they set them up and lay the cross-stones, the imposts, upon the uprights? It is pleasant, once in a while, to think how we should have managed any such matters as this if left to our natural resources. We are all interested in the make-shifts of Robinson Crusoe.
Bamboo battens are then placed over the plant, and these are pressed down, and held in their place by horizontal beams, working in upright posts. The uprights have holes at intervals of six inches. An iron pin is put in one of the holes; a lever is put under this pin, and the beam pressed down, till the next hole is reached and a fresh pin inserted, which keeps the beam down in its place.
In crossing rivers where the water is so high as to come into the wagon-beds, but is not above a fording stage, the contents of the wagons may be kept dry by raising the beds between the uprights, and retaining them in that position with blocks of wood placed at each corner between the rockers and the bottom of the wagon-beds.
There was already a crowd waiting massed under the care of mounted soldiers, and the cab slowed to a walk to pass through them. From the window at his side he saw, with unconscious appreciation, the picture it made, an arrangement of somber masses with yellow windows shining, and in the middle the gaunt uprights, the severe simplicity of the guillotine.
The upper ends of the web are looped over a stout bar which is fixed to a pair of uprights about a yard above the floor. The lower ends of the web are looped over a stout rod, to the ends of which a loop of cord is tied.
The uprights were interwoven with osiers or stout vines and, on these wattles, was daubed the clay and mud found in the surrounding area, which the colonists had mixed with reeds from the marshes. Coatings of this applied both outside and inside, when dry, made thick, though perhaps fragile walls. Nevertheless, they shut out temporarily, at least, the chill winds and the summer heat.
It was fourfold, for it involved the finding and possibly the quarrying of the stones, the moving of them to the desired spot, the erection of the uprights in their places, and the placing of the cover-slab or slabs on top of them.
The longitudinal timbers are supported between each two uprights by an iron rod that rests upon a block of stone fixed in the ground. The front ends of the rafters are connected by a longitudinal, 18 feet in length. The structure is covered with waterproof canvas held in place by wooden rods, to which it is attached. The wood employed is pitch pine.
Salammbo seated on a chair with ivory uprights, gave herself up to the attentions of the slave. But the touchings, the odour of the aromatics, and the fasts that she had undergone, were enervating her. She became so pale that Taanach stopped. "Go on!" said Salammbo, and bearing up against herself, she suddenly revived.
Lupin fastened the rope to him and then, stooping over, grasped one of the uprights in both hands to keep the ladder from shaking: "Off you go," he said. At the same moment, he felt a violent pain in the shoulder: "Blast it!" he said, sinking to the ground. Daubrecq had stabbed him with a knife below the nape of the neck, a little to the right. "You blackguard! You blackguard!"
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