did not doubt had been nearly reached.

What would happen to them if it should suddenly collapse was not a
pleasant subject for thought; and yet there could be no dodging the
responsibility.

At the same time he was curious to know how it happened that the two
girls and the little crippled cousin of Bessie came to be there alone;
when it might have been expected that Asa French, or his farm hand,
would be along, capable of rendering more or less assistance.

"How do you come to be here alone, you girls?" he hastened to ask of
Mazie.

"It was just through a succession of accidents," the girl replied.
"You see, Mr. French and his wife received a message from Alderson
yesterday calling them over in great haste to visit an old aunt who was
sinking, and from whom they expected to inherit quite a large sum of
money. They disliked leaving us here, but we insisted on it; and
besides the faithful old man who had been with them for just ages,
Peter Rankin, promised to guard us well. They were to come back this
morning, but I suppose the floods kept them from setting out, as the
roads must all be under water between here and Alderson."

"And you've had a night of terror, with the water creeping up all the
while," observed Max; "but what became of Peter Rankin; I hope he
wasn't drowned?"

"We don't know," replied Mazie, with a tremor in her voice. "Three
hours ago he left us, saying that the only hope was for him to try and
swim to the shore, so as to get a boat of some kind, and come to our
rescue before the house was carried away. We saw the brave old man
disappear far down the river, and we've been hoping and praying ever
since that at least he managed to get ashore. Then we discovered all
that timber coming around the bend above, with people aboard, and none
of us could even guess what it meant."

"Well," said Max, "we're here, all right, and the next thing to do is
to find some way of getting to the bank below."

"Then you're afraid the house will go before long?" Mazie asked him;
"and that's what I've been thinking would happen every time that queer
tremble seemed to pass through it. We shrieked right out the first
time, but I suppose we've become partly used to it by now. But, Max,
what can we do?"

"I suppose there's nothing inside that could be used in place of a
boat?" he asked, thoughtfully.

"Nothing but the furniture that is floating around the rooms; though
some of that has been washed out, and di