Wilmington daily gazette., 1874-05-19

wall with his left hand the food was like some
vast solid body drawing against him, and terror
began to seize on his heart. He ground his teeth
be set his knee against the horizontal projection
oil the window. and that freed his left hand he
suddenly seized her arm with it, aud elutching il
violently, ground his teeth together, and throw
ing himself backward with jerk, tore her out of
the water by an affort almost superhuman. Such
was
THE FORCE ExERrED BY THE TORRENT
on one side, and the desperate lover on the other
mat not only her shoes but her stockings, though
Rartered were torn of her in that fierce struggle
Fearful as the situation was, a sickening horror
was added 10 1t by the horrible smell OF the wa
Ter 1t had ioul and appalling odor compound
OF earthiness and putrescence II smelt like a
newly opehed grave; 1t paralized like . serpent's
breath In the next house were heard the de-
spairlng shrieks oil the poor creatures who saw
no way OF evading their fate. Little had in the
meantime reached tho roof with his lady love-
Ihey went on TO the next house, when the one
they had just left tumoed all to pieces like n
house OF sugar, and tho debris went floating nv
Little knocked hole in the roof and dragged up
six poor souls. f
THE HOUSE WAS ROCKING.
Little and Grace went on TO the NEXT and bs
smashed the roof in, and then the ceil;rc .ni
Grace and he were getting the people out, when
!he mousse they had just left melted away. ali
put chimney stack, which adhered in Jagged
dllapidition to the house they were now nrop
| lhey were now upon the last Little backed
furlously through the roof and Ceiling and 90,
| the people out; and twenty seven souls croucbed
IN the gutter or hung about the roof of this one
mousse some praying but most of them whining
and wailing. "Hold your tongues p he roare,
I've got good news for you. The water was over
| The top windows. now It is an inch lower The
reservoir must be empty by now. The water
Wall go down as fast as il rose Keep quiet for
Two minutes, and you will see" Then no more
was heard but the whimpering of the women.
and' every now a1d then, the voice of Little. he
nung over the parapet, and reported every half
minute the decline Of the water; il subsided with
strange rapidity as he had foreseen. In three
minutes after lie had noticed the frst decline
no took Grace down through the roof on tbe
| second floor, and
| AT LAST REACHED THE GROUND
he tried 10 find his way to the road which bs
knew ied up The hull to Woodbine Village. Blu,
a., a., iahuma'ks were gone; houses, trees, hedges
with rocks, and stones, and bricks and csrcas,es
me pleasant valley vas one ho,rid quaRmire.
III "hicn he could take few steps, burdened as be
| was without sticking or stumbling agaipst son,a
sure sign OF destruction and death. within ths
compass of fifty yards he found steam. .ho;lsr
and It's appurtsnances they must have weighed
some tons' yet they had been driven more than
mile ana dead COW, and the body OF wa
gon turned upside down. THE wheels of this
same wagon were afterwards found fifteen mile
from the body.) They made for risinr oronnJ
and were rewarded by finding the Debris les
massive. "Ths food must have been narrow y
nereaoouts, said Henry. ave shall soon he
clear OF it, hope" Soon after this tbev :, mo
under short but sturdy oak that had survived
and entangled in its close and crooked branches
was something white. They came nearer; it was
dead body-some poor man or woman he rrried
from sleep to eternity. They shuddered and
crawied on, sliil making for higher ground, but
sore perplexed. e' '''
Il AFTER TIE FLOOD.
Round great fire in the Town Hall were
nuuueu number OF half-naked creatures, who
had been driven out OF their dilapidated homes
some Of them had seen children or reIs,iss,
perlsa IN The Hood they had themselves so n.r-
rowly escaped, and were bemoaninp them with
chatterlng teeth. Little spoke them n word q,
comfort, anu hurried off 10 the lower mart of IN,
town IN search Of Ransome. lie soon found ihs
line the flood had taken. Between Poma bridet
and h'llsoorough it had wasted itself copsider r
aoy 10 broad valley, but still it b ad gone clean
3 through Hiilsborough twelve feet high, demol-
shlng anu drowning. Its terrible progress wa,
ma,Aeu ny layer OF mud foot thick, dotted
win roeHs, trees, wrecks Of houses. machinery
furniture, barrels, mattresses. carcasses Of sn,
mails, and dead bodies most Of them stark max ed
the raging flood having torn their clothes of
, their backs.
AT PoMA BRIDGE
the devastation was horrible. The 0ocd la,
oomoarded row OF fifty houses, and demolisb
, ell them 80 utterly that only one arch Of on,
cellar remained; the very foundations we're tori
up, and huge holes of incredible breadth an,
depth bored by the furious eddies Where WEI,
lne inhaDhants Ransome stood looking AT
) shock like man in an ague,