looking behind with terrified faces, as if a band of wolves was pursuing
them.

"What's the matter with them?" demanded Cyprien. "Do you see anything,
grandfather?"

"No," I answered. "The leaves are not even moving."

I was still talking when an exclamation burst from us. Behind the
fugitives there appeared, between the trunks of the poplars, amongst the
large tufts of grass, what looked like a pack of gray beasts speckled
with yellow. They sprang up from all directions, waves crowding waves,
a helter-skelter of masses of foaming water, shaking the sod with the
rumbling gallop of their hordes.

It was our turn to send forth the despairing cry:

"The Garonne! The Garonne!"

The two men and the three women were still running on the road. They
heard the terrible gallop gaining on them. Now the waves arrived in a
single line, rolling, tumbling with the thunder of a charging battalion.
With their first shock they had broken three poplars; the tall foliage
sank and disappeared. A wooden cabin was swallowed up, a wall was
demolished; heavy carts were carried away like straws. But the water
seemed, above all, to pursue the fugitives. At the bend in the road,
where there was a steep slope, it fell suddenly in an immense sheet and
cut off retreat. They continued to run, nevertheless, splashing through
the water, no longer shouting, mad with terror. The water swirled about
their knees. An enormous wave felled the woman who was carrying the
child. Then all were engulfed.

"Quick! Quick!" I cried. "We must get into the house. It is solid--we
have nothing to fear."

We took refuge upstairs. The house was built on a hillock above the
road. The water invaded the yard, softly, with a little rippling noise.
We were not much frightened.

"Bah!" said Jacques, to reassure every one, "this will not amount to
anything. You remember, father, in '55, the water came up into the yard.
It was a foot deep. Then it receded."

"It is disastrous for the crops, just the same," murmured Cyprien.

"No, it will not be anything," I said, seeing the large questioning eyes
of our girls.

Aimee had put her two children into the bed. She sat beside them, with
Veronique and Marie. Aunt Agathe spoke of heating some wine she had
brought up, to give us courage.

Jacques and Rose were looking out of a window. I was at the other, with
my brother Pierre, Cyprien and Gaspard.

"Come up!" I cried to our two servants, who were wading in the yard.
"