“and we opened up the faucets as soon as we could. Then we began dipping out, to make sure.”
“You were smart boys this time,” John told him, “and saved a lot of trouble by being so prompt to act. There is going to be a flood sure. The dam is roaring like Niagara, and they haven’t opened the gates yet.”
“I’m glad we are up high,” Bert remarked, for he had never seen a country flood before, and was a good deal frightened at the prospect.
“Hey, John!” called Freddie from the back porch. “Hey, bring me some more nails, will you? I need them for my ark.”
“He’s building an ark!” laughed Bert. “Guess we’ll need it all right if this keeps on.”
Harry got some nails from his toolbox in the carriage house, and the boys went up to the house.
There they found Freddie on the hard cement cellar floor, nailing boards together as fast as his little hammer could drive the nails in.
“How’s that?” asked the little fellow, standing up the raft.
“I guess that will float,” said Bert, “and when it stops raining we can try it.”
“I’m going to make a regular ark like the play one I’ve got home,” said Freddie, “only mine will be a big one with room for us all, besides Frisky, Snoop, Fluffy, and—”
“Old Bill. We’ll need a horse to tow us back when the water goes down,” laughed Harry.
Freddie went on working as seriously as if he really expected to be a little Noah and save all the people from the flood.
“My, but it does rain!” exclaimed somebody on the front porch.
It was Uncle Daniel, who had just returned from the village, soaking wet.
“They can’t open the gates,” Uncle Daniel told Aunt Sarah. “They let the water get so high the planks sailed away and now they can’t get near the dam.”
“That is bad for the poor Burns family!” exclaimed Aunt Sarah. “I had better have John drive me down and see if they need anything.”
“I stopped in on my way up,” Uncle Daniel told her, “and they were about ready to move out. We’ll bring them up here if it gets any worse.”
“Why don’t they go to the gates in a boat?” asked Bert.
“Why, my dear boy,” said Uncle Daniel, “anybody who would go near that torrent in a boat might as well jump off the bridge. The falls are twenty-five feet high, and the water seems to have built them up twice that. If one went within two hundred feet of the dam the surging water would carry him over.”
“You see,” said Harry, explaining it further, “there is like a window in the falls, a long low door. When this is opened the water is drawn down under and does not all have to go over the falls.”
“And if there is too much pressure against the stone wall that makes the dam, the wall may be carried away. That’s what we call the dam bursting,” finished Uncle Daniel.
All this was very interesting to Bert, who could not help being frightened at the situation.
The boys told Uncle Daniel how the tank in the barn had overflowed, and he said they had done good work to prevent any damage.
“Oh, Uncle Daniel!” exclaimed Freddie, just then running up from the cellar. “Come and see my ark! It’s most done, and I’m going to put all the animals and things in it to save them from the flood.”
“An ark!” exclaimed his uncle, laughing. “Well, you’re a sensible little fellow to build an ark today, Freddie, for we will surely need one if this keeps up,” and away they went to examine the raft Freddie had actually nailed together in the cellar.
That was an awful night in Meadow Brook, and few people went to bed, staying up instead to watch the danger of the flood. The men took turns walking along the pond bank all night long, and their low call each hour seemed to strike terror in the hearts of those who were in danger.
The men carried lanterns, and the little specks of light were all that could be seen through the darkness.
Mrs. Burns had refused to leave her home.
“I will stay as long as I can,” she told Uncle Daniel. “I have lived here many a year, and that dam has not broken yet, so I’m not going to give up hope now!”
“But you could hardly get out in time should it break,” insisted Uncle Daniel, “and you know we have plenty of room and you are welcome with us.”
Still she insisted on staying, and each hour when the watchman would call from the pond bank, just like they used to do in old war-times: “Two o’clock-and—all is—well!” Mrs. Burns would look up and say, “Dear Lord, I thank Thee!”
Peter, of course, was out with the men. He could not move his barns and chicken house, but he had taken his cow and horse to places of safety.
There were other families along the road in danger as well as the Burnses, but they were not so near the dam, and would get some warning to escape before the flood could reach them should the dam burst.
How the water roared! And how awfully dark it was! Would morning ever come?
“Four o’clock—the water rises!” shouted the men from the bank.
“Here, Mary!” called Peter Burns at the door of their little home, “you put your shawl on and run up the road as fast as you can! Don’t wait to take anything, but go!”
“Oh, my babies’ pictures!” she cried. “My dear babies! I must have them.”
The poor frightened little woman rushed about the house looking for the much-prized pictures of her babies that were in heaven.
“It’s a good thing they all have a safe home tonight,” she thought, “for their mother could not give them safety if they were here.”
“Come, Mary!” called Peter, outside. “That dam is swaying like a tree-top, and it will go over any minute.” With one last look at the little home Mrs. Burns went out and closed the door.
Outside there were people from all along the road. Some driven out of their homes in alarm, others having turned out to help their neighbors.
The watchmen had left the bank. A torrent from the dam would surely wash that away, and brave as the men were they could not watch the flood any longer.
“Get past the willows quick!” called the men. “Let everybody who is not needed hurry up the road!”
Mr. Mason, Mr. Hopkins, Uncle Daniel, and John, besides Peter Burns, were the men most active in the life-saving work. There were not many boats to be had, but what there were had been brought inland early in the day, for otherwise they would have been washed away long before down the stream into the river.
“What’s that?” called Uncle Daniel, as there was a heavy crash over near the gates.
Then everybody
