Two or three had fallen, and the edges of the others were a little out of line.
The unevenness was marked, and although one or two of the heads of the timbers had moved, the movement might not have caught Festing's eye had he not known the treacherous nature of their support.

He did not think anybody else would notice that they were not quite in their proper place.
"I'm afraid we're up against trouble, Bob," he said.
Charnock looked unusually thoughtful.

"The engineer had to start from a dead stop and turn on full steam.

That made the jarring worse, but it wouldn't happen with the ordinary traffic." "Perhaps not," Festing agreed.

"Still, you see, the frequent repetition of a smaller shock--" Charnock stopped him.