I wondered if the men would grumble at the night-work; but the steamboat arrived by seven, and it was bright moonlight when they went at it.

Never have I beheld such a jolly scene of labor.

Tugging these wet and heavy boards over a bridge of boats ashore, then across the slimy beach at low tide, then up a steep bank, and all in one great uproar of merriment for two hours.

Running most of the time, chattering all the time, snatching the boards from each other's backs as if they were some coveted treasure, getting up eager rivalries between different companies, pouring great choruses of ridicule on the heads of all shirkers, they made the whole scene so enlivening that I gladly stayed out in the moonlight for the whole time to watch it.

And all this without any urging or any promised reward, but simply as the most natural way of doing the thing.