The former slaves, four men and two women, came panting up, carrying long planks, and began to lay them across the tar.

A steady procession of children and adults carried useless furnace parts and planks out of the building and threw them on a debris pile the size of a minivan.

Dodging shifts of soldiers carrying long planks through the street, this time by the light of torches and camp lanterns, I walked over to the staff headquarters.

The Union attackers therefore carried axes, poles, planks, cotton bags and fascines to fill in the ditch.

As "Mother Destiny," Ms. Gitelman slogged onward carrying heavy planks.

A Barkhamsted firefighter, Andy Johnson, 22, said crews cut down trees and carried planks into the woods to build a makeshift bridge to reach the wreckage.

"Well--perhaps we had better," said Andy, who was feeling tired and not at all eager to carry heavy planks about.

The workday started early and the Hardys were assigned by Angan to carry planks for the carpenters who were building concrete forms to be used for the bridge's support columns.

The first few were carrying planks.