Saying this, he compelled us so to square our positions that we might receive from the far-off fire a dull ray to show us the text of the lumber thrust upon us.

说了这番话，他强迫我们坐好，使我们能从远处的炉火那边得来一线暗光，好让我们看他塞给我们的那没用的经文。

youdao

On the north shore stand mounds of charred lumber -- 30 feet high in places -- from the Great Fire in 1871.

FORBES: A most unromantic river