with an expression
of almost comical uneasiness on his face. Truth to tell, whenever Toby
became in any way excited, and often when he was perfectly calm, his
tongue played him cruel tricks, so that he stuttered, and stumbled
fearfully; until suddenly stopping he would draw in a long breath, give
a sharp whistle, and having thus obtained a grip on himself often
proceeded to speak as intelligibly as any one.

"M-m-mills and s-s-shops all closed down, so's to let w-w-workers have
c-c-chance to save their h-h-household goods!" he went on to say in a
labored manner.

The boy who had been called Bandy-legs by Max, and whose rather crooked
lower limbs were undoubtedly responsible for the nickname among his
school fellows, gave a whistle to indicate the depth of his feelings.

Toby may have had an obstruction in his vocal cords, but he could run
like a streak; on the other hand, while Bandy-legs could not be said to
have an elegant walk, which some hateful fellows compared to the waddle
of a duck, there was nothing the matter with his command of language,
for he could rattle on like the machinery in one of Carson's mills.

"And," he went on to say, excitedly, "the last news I heard was that
school would have to stay closed all of next week, because the water is
on the campus now, and likely to get in the cellars before the river
goes down again. Which means we'll have a week's vacation we didn't
count on."

Somehow even that important event, which at another time would have
caused the boys to throw their hats into the air with glee, did not
seem to create a ripple of applause among the three young chaps.
Carson was threatened with a terrible disaster, the greatest in all her
history, and even these boys could experience something of the
sensation of awe that had begun to pass through the whole community.

The Evergreen River that ran past the town was already bank-full; and
all manner of terrifying reports kept circulating among the
panic-stricken people of that section of the State, adding to their
alarm and uneasiness. More rain meant accessions to the flood, already
augmented by the melting of vast quantities of snow up in the
mountains, owing to the sudden coming of Spring. Besides this, some
people claimed to know that the great reservoir which supplied water to
many towns, was not as secure as it might be, and they spread reports
of cracks discovered that might suddenly bring about another Johnstown
disaster.