The labor had been running for several days and it showed in the ground.
The timber came from the river margin, carried north in loads by men working in pairs, and the track between the river and the staging area was already worn into the frozen earth from the foot traffic. Each log took two men and most of the morning.
The stone came from the shallower sections of the bank where winter had exposed the larger pieces, dragged up on sleds fashioned from spare timber. The noise carried. Wood on frozen ground. The grinding pull of loaded sleds.
Batu stood at the edge of the working area with his right arm in the sling. Condition, pace, distribution of effort across the line. He read it the same way he assessed a position.
Those who had been fed and given a clear task and no other options moved at the right pace.
