The Cincinnati daily star. [volume] ([Cincinnati, Ohio]) 1875-1880, 1880-05-12
in the stable" dolefully said fat Hannah.
"If they could get up into their attics,
they might have chance"


'If they could get up into their attics,
they might have chance"
"You talk ridiculously, Hannah"
Mss Beamish went down the yard to
see the state of matters for herself; Kate
followed at her elbow; Hannah, who had
hastily resumed the pattens, came clat-
tering behind. Sally was joining them,
but she was ordered back to unyoke the
the ponies. Mrs. Sibbert went down
half way, stopped, craned her neck
standing on tip-toe, though the nearest
water was sixty yards away. The pros
peet was bad enough. The flood was not
checked by two fresh pair OF eyes looking
at it. 1t went on visibly rising; q fear
full watery roar beyond seemed growing
hoarser ever moment Already two
thirds of the orchard was large pool,
the water circling round and round; the
bottom garden had vanished, and the top
portion was noisily filling. Miss Beamish,
in retracing her steps, only Strengthened
her back little sitter. On reaching the
house, she said: .s.t.g
"Kate, you heard Bates. He told us
it could not be 80 bod as 20; and, though
have not much faith in him, still he
must be right in that"
Suddenly stopping, and turning apart,
with strange look Of fright on her face,
she said in low voice to her sister:
81 once dreamed that the Grange was
swept away by food. Is it came here,
I should be ruined; we should lose all,
now that have you and the children to
think of. l should lose all the relics we
have of father and mother--everything
would 60. Nay. don't think it is going
to happen" she said, speaking louder, as
Mrs. Slbbert began to SHY something. 1t
seemed, however, that she had some mis-
givings, for, facing towards the stable,
in which Sarah could be heard talking
to the ponies in a complaining, cowsrdly
way, she called:
Don't tie them up until Thomas
comes"
1t certainly was a sad lookout for Miss
Beamish. If the Grange and what it
contained went, though it might not
leave her penniless, it would greatly Grip
pie her. and now she had her sister and
family on her hands. As the five women,
in melancholy procession, entered the
house, Mrs. Sibbert, speaking in very
shrill key, said:
Il have been comforting myself by
thinking it is good job Willie is gone
to the town. He must be safer there
than here. Whatever shall l do if any,
thing happens to nv boy?"
'Dont talk in that way, Elizabeth"
was Miss Beamish's firm answer. "It is
inviting misfortune. l should 20 wild if
he was not SAFE" quite substituting her.
self for Willie's mother, as being the one
most concerned. "But he is not safe; he
will not be content to leave me here"
1t must be remembered that Hannah
was quite right in her remark about
its being a houseful of women. There
was not Que of the other sex among
them. Increase in their numbers seemed
only to add to the fears of each. They
could not rest; the roar of the waters
behind the orchard kept growing louder.
Even the dumb animals began to show
signs of apprehension. The poultry
went to roost, and then came back again ;
the ducks in the yard Auttered their
wings, pruning themselves. By and by
the ponies whinnled. Miss Beamish, af-
/. ter the had rallied, showed some presence
of mind; she went into the yard to the
outhouses, and there set all the doors
and windows ajar. The water, if it
came, would do less damage, she said, if
it had free course. Sarah was bid to get
plenty Of coal in the house, Hannah,
too, was busy; she lifted in some cans
and paus, which had been resting out
side, and WAS especially anxious in some
preposterous way about long-handled
bosom. Poer Mrs. Sibbert joined herself
to Hannah, asking her ever and again
under her breath if she did not think
Willie was safe.
The air was every moment more and
more troubled by the rtlshes, hollow
noises, and swelIings Of the water ut the
rear of the house; the ponies, either in
fected by the agitation Of the women or
instinctively disturbed, began to whinny
louder. Sarah, who went to them, re-
ported that their limbs shook, and they
were pouring with sweat. Miss Beamish
called council of deliberation. The
others were for taking the affrightea ami
mails into the kitchen, but, said Miss
Beamish, suppose the water became high
enough to reach the kitchen? Her COM
panions had got to the end of their sug-
gestions. The ponies could not climb
the narrow stairs of the Grange even il
there were no objection. She said they
they must be taken up the high road at
once, before the waters reached the en-
trance to the fir spinney, and there be
turned leose to find their own way to the
higher portions Of the plantation, which
scarcely could be submerged. Sarah
was detailed for this duty. 1he mention
of it froze her with terror. 1t meant
that she would have to go away from her
human companions. Somebody else, she
urged, ought to do that, while she got the
poultry in the back kitchen; and, in her
furry, she began to try aud catch the
, ducks instead-to prevent their being
! drowned, as Miss Beamish scornfully put
it. Kate went and undid the eager po-
, nies, going away with them, her mother
urging her not to venture too far upon