d not need much exertion to get through our street or the next, or
the next after that, for as they all sloped downwards, the water more
than once took me off my legs, and carried me along. Sad as Nip's news
had been, I was not prepared for the terrible scene which met my eyes
when I got near the river. The houses at the lower part of the street I
had reached had been swept away by the torrent, and a crowd of shivering
dogs stood looking at the groaning river as it rolled past in great waves
as white as milk, in which black objects, either portions of some kennel
or articles of furniture, were floating. Every now and then, a howl would
break from a doggess in the crowd, as a dead body was seen tossed about
by the angry water; and the same dolorous cries might be heard from
different quarters, mixed up with the roar of the river.

While standing with a group of three or four, staring with astonishment
at the frightful scene, uncertain what to do, a howl was heard from
another direction, so piercing that it made many of us run to learn the
cause. The pale light showed us that the torrent had snapped the supports
of a house at some distance from the river's bank, but which the swollen
stream had now reached, and carried away at least half the building. By
some curious chance, the broken timbers had become fixed for the moment
in the boiling water, which, angry at the obstruction, was rushing round
or flying completely over them; and it was easy to see that in a very
short time the mass would be swept away. Upon the timbers thus exposed
were three little pups scarce two months old, yelping most dismally as
they crouched together, or crawled to the edge of their raft; while on
the floor of the ruin from which this side had been torn away, was their
poor mother, whose fearful howl had attracted us thither, and who was
running from side to side of the shattered hut as if she was frantic.

Great as the danger was, I could not bear to think the wretched mother
should see her little ones swallowed up by the stormy water, before her
very eyes, without a single attempt being made to save them. Although I
could scarcely hope even to reach them in safety, and in no case could
bring more than one of them to land at once, if I even got so far, I
resolved to make the trial. Better save one, I thought, than let all die.

Holding my breath, I launched into the current in the direction of the
raft, and soon found that I had not been wrong