the storm, with the exception of rushing streams, had gone
down, and though it still rained there was nothing very unusual to cause
alarm. He lay down again and tried to sleep, but in vain. Then he
thought he heard the sound of the river louder than before. At the same
time there was a noise that resembled the lapping of water round the
frame of the house.

Jumping up, he ran to his door, opened it, discovered that the supposed
mist was water, and that his dwelling was an island in a great sea.

To shout and rouse the household was the work of an instant. His guests
were men of promptitude. They had merely thrown themselves down in
their clothes, and appeared in an instant. Mrs Brook and Gertie were
also ready, but Mrs Scholtz, being fond of comfort, had partially
undressed, and was distracted between a wild effort to fasten certain
garments, and restrain Junkie, who, startled by the shout, was roaring
lustily.

"Not a moment to lose!" said Brook, running hastily into the room, where
all were now assembled. "Everything is lost. We must think only of
life. Lend a helping hand to the women, friends--mind the boy.--Come,
wife."

Brook was sharp, cool, and decisive in his manner. Seizing his wife
round the waist, he hurried her out into the dark night, stepping, as he
did so, above the ankles in rising water.

Dobson, Considine, and the three brothers turned with a mutual impulse
towards Gertie, but Hans Marais had already taken possession of her,
and, almost carrying her in his powerful arms, followed her father.

"Come, my howlin' toolip," said George Dally, "you're my special and
_precious_ charge. Shut up, will you!"

He seized the child and bore him away with such violence that the
howling was abruptly checked; while Scholtz, quietly gathering his still
half-clad spouse under an arm, followed with heavy stride.

The others, each seizing the object that in his eyes appeared to be most
valuable--such as a desk or workbox,--sprang after the household and
left the house to its fate. They first made for the cattle-kraals, but
these were already flooded and the cattle gone. Then they tried a barn
which stood a little higher, but it was evidently no place of refuge,
for the stream just there was strong, and broke against it with
violence.

"To the hills," shouted Hans, lifting Gertie off the ground altogether,
as if she had been a little child.

There was no time for ceremony. Edwin Brook lifted his