THE BOYS TAKE REFUGE IN A TREE--THE HOUSE CARRIED AWAY--DESTRUCTION OF
CATTLE--A COW CAUGHT IN THE BOUGHS--A NIGHT UP THE TREE--HARRY KEEPS UP
THE SPIRIT OF THE PARTY.
The flood came roaring up, carrying everything in its course on either
side of the ground over which the lads were making their way. Hector
had begun to cry out when he saw how high the water was.
"It won't wash us away yet, never fear," exclaimed Harry, dragging him
along. It was almost up to their knees, however, before they reached
the ladder.
"You go up first," said Harry. "Be quick about it; I'll follow."
Hector began to climb the ladder much slower than Harry liked, for as he
looked round he saw a huge wave, far wider, though not so high as that
which first appeared, roaring and leaping as it came down the river.
Trees and fences, which had hitherto withstood the flood, gave way
before it.
"Quick, quick," cried Harry, shoving Hector up, "it will be upon us in a
few seconds, and may carry the ladder away."
On it came, surging up against the walls of the house. Reggy caught
hold of Hector's hand and handed him up on the branch.
"We must get higher up than this," he shouted; "look there! look there!"
Harry again turned round. The house seemed literally to melt away
before the flood. The water rose around it, and then, as the wave
rushed on, the fragments of the walls and roof were seen floating on
mixed with articles of furniture, chairs, tables, and bedsteads. Now
the wave surged against the tree. Harry had just time to spring on to
the branch, and to secure the ladder by a rope when the lower end was
lifted, and it would have been carried away by the flood had it not thus
fortunately been secured. The lads watched the various articles as they
floated by, hopelessly lost, for in a few minutes they would be driven
by the current against the trunks of trees, or the rocks, and would be
dashed to pieces.
By climbing out to the end of a branch Harry was able to see where his
father and uncle were standing, and to make a signal to them that he and
his cousins were safe. This must greatly have relieved the mind of the
captain and his brother, though they probably still considered the lads
in greater danger than they themselves were inclined to believe that
they were.
Several trees had been uprooted and carried along by the torrent, and
theirs might share the same fate. Harry returned again to the end of
the branch, and found that his father and uncle had gone away to look
after the party on the hill.
Harry now proposed that they should get higher up, for the water had
already risen several feet above the ground, and might in a short time
be up to the branch in which they sat. Higher and higher they got.
"When is it going to stop?" cried Reggy. "Harry, do you think this is
such a flood as that which drowned all mankind except Noah's family?"
"I'm very sure it is not," answered Harry. "God promised never to send
such another, and put His bow in the clouds as a token. I have heard of
many such floods in this country, though this, to be sure, is higher
than any we have known, and I cannot account for it; but I have not the
slightest doubt that it will stop before long, though no doubt it will
have done a great deal of damage. That cannot be helped. It might have
come on at night, and we might all have been washed away before we knew
where we were, or fifty other things might have happened. We have
reason to be thankful, as matters might have been worse."
"I don't see how that could be," cried Hector. "To have to take refuge
in a tall tree, cut off from all help, without anything to eat or drink,
is as bad as one can well conceive."
"Come, come, don't grumble; it never makes a person happy, though it is
said there are some fellows who are never happy unless they are
grumbling, but I don't believe that."
"But if the flood does not subside before night, where are we to sleep?"
asked Hector.
"Why, up in the boughs, like birds or 'possums, to be sure," answered
Harry. "By-the-bye, we may find a 'possum, and he may serve us for
supper."
"But how can we get a fire to cook him?" inquired Reggy with a slight
suspicion that Harry was quizzing his brother.
"Oh, as to that, we must eat him raw; but many a sailor, wrecked on a
desert island, has had to live on worse fare," said Harry.
"Oh, dear! Oh, dear! I wish we had never come out to this horrible
country. We shall be starved, to a certainty," moaned Hector; "I'm
desperately hungry already."
"Are you? Poor fellow! then you will have to come to 'possum, or have
to eat a tree-lizard, or our friend the laughing jackass, or her eggs,
if she happen to have a nest in this tree. We must set off on a voyage
of discovery directly."
"I wonder you can joke, placed in so fearful a position as we are," said
Hector, in an angry tone.
"What would be the use of moaning and sighing, I should like to know?"
asked Harry. "I always like to make the best of things. The flood
won't last for ever. It is sure to go down in two or three days or a
week at the most, and in the meantime we must make ourselves comfortable
where we are."
"Comfortable, indeed! up a fig-tree with nothing to eat," groaned
Hector.
"Well, well, old fellow, things are not so bad as that. Here's a bit of
damper to stay your appetite until we can catch a 'possum or a laughing
jackass for dinner;" and Harry produced one of the dampers which he had
stowed away in his pocket.
This somewhat consoled Hector, who had hitherto declared that he could
never touch such doughy stuff, although he ate his share eagerly, as did
Reggy his.
"It may be a satisfaction for you to know that I have got some more,"
said Harry; "but it won't do to eat them all up at once; we must put
ourselves on an allowance, or we may have to starve at last. Now let us
see how things are getting along."
Harry looked out from the leafy covert in which the three lads had
ensconced themselves high up among the forks of the huge tree. The
flood was still surging on, setting towards the south-east, and
spreading farther and farther over the country. He was grieved to see a
number of bullocks floating by, showing that the flood must be sweeping
over some of the pastures, and have carried them off before they could
be driven on to the higher ground. They were in all probability his
father's. Their loss must inevitably be very heavy. Their house and
the greater part of their furniture was gone. How many heads of cattle
he could not calculate. Other settlers farther down must have suffered
in the same degree, perhaps in a still greater.
"We ought to be thankful that the lives of all the family have been
saved, and three drays full of property. If father hadn't been wide
awake, they would have been lost too," said Harry. At last he caught
sight of some pigs feeding on the shore. "Well, those fellows have
saved themselves, at all events, and I see some hens, too, in those
trees; well, matters might be worse, we must acknowledge that."
Reggy agreed with him, but nothing would comfort Hector; his only remark
was that--"It is a horrible, detestable country; if I can once get out
of it I won't come back in a hurry."
"Three little blackbirds sat in a tree--Singing, heigh-ho, heigh-ho,
fiddle-de-dee," sang Harry. "Now I vote we make a nest for ourselves;
as to the water sinking low enough to allow our getting on shore
to-night, that's out of the question. Come, Reggy, help me up with the
ladder, we must not let that go; we may find it useful in getting down
some day or other, and the rope will help to make our nest."
They hauled up the ladder and placed it horizontally across the boughs.
"Stay," cried Harry, "if we get it up into this fork it will serve as a
back to our sleeping-place, and the rope passed two or three times
backwards and forwards will secure the sides." Harry had his axe in his
belt. "We must cut some boughs to raise the sides, lest we should stray
in our sleep and tumble overboard."
By creeping along one of the boughs they were able to reach some small
branches suited to their purpose. These were secured by means of some
of the fine vines which hung about the boughs. Harry and Reggy declared
the nest they had formed was perfect.
"I vote we have an annual feast here in commemoration of this flood,"
said Harry, "and we will invite our friends to join us."
"It will hold all who come," growled Hector. "I would rather try to
forget so disagreeable an event."
"There are some fellows who are never satisfied," said Harry, looking
away from Hector.
Harry did his best to keep up his cousins' spirits and his own by
talking away. Their conversation was interrupted by feeling some heavy
body strike the tree, and looking down they saw a bullock, which had
come down the torrent, driven against some of the lower branches, on
which the poor animal was endeavouring to find a foot-hold; it
succeeded, and remained fixed in the boughs. Its struggles soon ceased,
and it was pretty clear that, overcome by its exertions, it was dead,
for its head hung over the boughs into the water.
"No fear of starving," said Harry; "we may have as much beef-steak as we
like."
"Thank you! I'd rather not eat such horrid stuff," said Hector.
"As you please," answered Harry. "The time may come when you will
change your tone."
Night was approaching, the water was evidently rising less rapidly than
before, still it was spreading over the country. Here and there
hillocks and knolls appeared like islands in the midst of the sea.
"I wish that we had brought a gun with us; we could have made a signal
to our friends that we are all safe. My fear is that they will be
anxious about us." Harry did not for a moment think about himself.
"Well, old fellows, it's time to turn in."
After they had finished their frugal supper of damper and sweet potatoes
they arranged themselves for the night.
"Don't take to walking in your sleep, Hector, and you'll be all right,"
said Harry.
"But what if the tree should give way! I'm certain I felt it shake,"
groaned Hector.
"Cling to the boughs like grim death," answered Harry; "it won't sink,
and we shall be floated to shore somehow or other."