2026-04-10 22:13:03
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Chapter 160
Marcus smiled faintly, his eyes focused on the edge of the blade."My grandfather had a small sawmill in the Black Forest," he said. "Before the war. He did not like circular saws. He said they tore the grain and made the timber weep sap. He built barns with hand tools, mortise and tenon, oak pegs and adzes.""How old were you?""Twelve," Marcus said. "I spent three summers turning square billets into octagonal pegs just like this. He paid me five pfennigs for every hundred pegs that fit the gauge.""Did he beat you if they were too small?""He did not beat me," Marcus said. "He just threw the small ones into the wood stove. If I spent all day making sixty pegs and thirty of them burned in the stove, I learned very quickly how to measure with my fingers."Elena touched the side of one of the finished pegs. It was smooth as bone, cool to the touch, smelling fa
Chapter 159
Marcus dropped the hammer and the chisel onto the scaffold planks. He seized the pine log with both hands, threw his weight against it, and shoved it sideways.The timber slipped past the cut stone. It dropped into the bottom of the pocket with a solid, final CRACK that shook the entire wall.The derrick relaxed. The tension left the rope.Elena let the rope fall from her hands. She slumped back against the oak post, letting her head drop back. She was breathing hard, her shoulders trembling with fatigue.Marcus stood on the scaffold, looking down at the timber. It sat three inches deep in the granite bed, seated as firm as if it had grown there.He let out a long breath through his nose. He picked up his hammer and chisel and slid them back into his belt."Good pull," he said down to her.She looked up at him through her messy hair. A sl
Chapter 158
By the time the second purlin was pinned with a temporary wedge, the sun was high in the sky. The white fog had completely burned away from the valley, leaving the mountain slopes clear and green below them. Far down on the floor of the valley, the gray ribbon of the river sparkled in the noon light.Elena dropped the rope and sat down on a stone near the door. Her hands were red from the hemp rope, despite the calluses."We eat now," she said. It was not a question."Yes," Marcus agreed, climbing down from the scaffold. "We eat."They went into the kitchen. Elena cut thick wedges of cheese and the rest of the sourdough loaf. She reached into a clay jar on the shelf and pulled out a handful of cured black olives that were small, bitter, and slick with oil.They took the food outside and sat on the flat terrace wall, letting their legs hang over the drop.The
Chapter 157
Marcus woke before the sun. The room was dark, but the iron fireback still gave off a low, gentle heat. Through the open roof, the silver band of stars was fading into a cool gray mist.Beside him, Elena was sleeping on her side. Her breathing was deep and even. In the safe houses, she had slept like a dog in an alley, twitching at every noise in the street. Here, her hands were relaxed and open on the wool blanket.Marcus slid out from under the blanket without making a sound. The terracotta floor was cold against his bare feet. He pulled on his heavy canvas trousers, his wool socks, and his leather boots. He did not lace the boots to the top. He walked quietly across the room to the hearth.A few red embers still glowed under the gray ash. Marcus picked up the iron poker and pulled the red coals together into a small mound. He took a handful of dry pine shavings from the wood box and dropped them on top. He knelt down and blew softly into the ash.The shavings smoked for a second, t
Chapter 156
Marcus went into the trees and returned with three long Scots pine poles they had cut and peeled three days ago. They were six inches thick at the base, straight and strong.He laid two of the poles on the ground, crossing them near the top to form a tall 'A' frame. He used the heavy galvanized steel wire to lash the tops together, wrapping the wire around the wood twenty times and twisting the ends tight with a pair of heavy pliers.At the apex where the poles crossed, he hung the heavy iron block-and-tackle. He threaded the thick hemp rope through the iron pulleys."A simple shear-leg derrick," Marcus explained. "We raise the legs against the inside wall. We tie the back leg to an anchor stone on the terrace. Then we use the mechanical advantage of the double pulley. One person can pull fifty kilos and lift two hundred.""I can pull fifty kilos," Elena said."I know you can," M
Chapter 155
From far down the mountain, muffled by the thick pine trees, came the deep, grinding whine of a heavy diesel truck in low gear. The sound grew louder, punctuated by the sharp hiss of pneumatic air brakes as the driver took the lower hairpin turn.Marcus climbed down the ladder. He walked to the edge of the terrace and stood beside Elena.A few minutes later, the massive green truck crested the final rise of the dirt track. It moved slowly, rocking from side to side like a ship in rough water. Its massive knobby tires churned through the loose limestone gravel. Behind it, the long flatbed trailer trailed along, carrying the stacks of clay tiles tied down with wide blue ratchet straps.On the bed of the truck lay the sixty chestnut rafters, their pale, freshly sawn ends glowing white in the sun, and the four massive Douglas fir purlins.The driver stopped the truck in the center of the wide clearing un
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