Blessed, on such occasions, are those who possess little for they shall
have no loss.

As the waters rose, the lake became wider, and the wind blew the waves
to a dangerous height. The ice broke up and the current increasing
dashed this against the buildings, which at length gave way and all went
floating down across the points--ice, log houses with dogs and cats
frantic on their roofs. One eye-witness says: "The most singular
spectacle was a house in flames, drifting along in the night, its one
half immersed in water and the remainder furiously burning."

As the flood of waters widened into a great expanse it became plain that
it would be some time,--if indeed less than several months,--before the
waters would begin to abate, and in the absence of an Ararat on which to
rest, the settlers occupied the rock-bared elevations, the highest Stony
Mount, only eighty feet above the level, with the middle bluff, little
Stony Mountain and Bird's Hill, east of the river. It is interesting to
know that Silver Heights and the banks of the Sturgeon Creek near its
mouth, were not submerged and at their various points the Colonists
pitched their tents and sojourned.

In seventeen days from the first rise, the water reached its height, and
hope began immediately to return. On the 22nd of May the waters
commenced to assuage, and twenty days afterward the Settlers were able
with difficulty to reach their homes again.

But every disaster has its side of advantage. During the escape of the
Settlers to the heights, the De Meurons, losing all sense of restraint,
stole the cattle of the Settlers and actually sold them meat from their
own slaughtered cattle. So intense was the feeling of the Scottish
Settlers against the De Meurons that the Selkirk Colonists chose another
situation and moved to it.

Now that the flood was over, the De Meurons and Swiss became more
restless than ever. They decided to move to the United States. The
Selkirk Colonists were glad to see them go, and furnished them, free of
cost, sufficient supplies for their journey. They departed on the 24th
of June, their band numbering 243, and the sturdy pioneers who held to
their land shed no tears of sorrow at their going.

With remarkable courage and hope the Settlers returned after what was to
some of them, their fourth Hegira, and immediately planted potatoes and
small quantities of wheat and barley. This grew well and supplied food
for them, and in the next two or