said Ailwin was always stupid.

"So she is," replied Mildred; "but it does not signify now. Look how
the water is pouring out of the parlour-window. The meal and grain must
have been wet through long ago. Is not that a pretty waterfall? A
waterfall from our parlour-window, down upon the tulip-bed! How very
odd!"

"If one could think how to feed these poor animals," said Oliver,--"and
the fowls! If there was anything here that one could get for them! One
might cut a little grass for the cow;--but there is nothing else."

"Only the leaves of the trees, and a few blackberries, when they are
ripe," said Mildred, looking round her, "and flowers,--wild-flowers, and
a few that mother planted."

"The bees!" cried Oliver. "Let us save them. They can feed themselves.
We will save the bees."

"Why, you don't think they are drowned?" said Mildred.

The bees were not drowned; but they were in more danger of it than
Mildred supposed. Their little shed was placed on the side of the
Red-hill, so as to overlook the flowery garden. The waters stood among
the posts of this shed; and the hives themselves shook with every wave
that rolled along.

"You cannot do it, Oliver," cried Mildred, as her brother crept down the
slope to the back of the shed. "You can never get round, Oliver. You
will slip in, Oliver!"

Oliver looked round and nodded, as there was no use in speaking in such
a noise. He presently showed that he did not mean to go round to the
front of the shed. That would never have done; for the flood had washed
away the soil there, and left nothing to stand upon. He broke away the
boards at the back of the bee-shed, which were old and loosely fastened.
He was glad he had come; for the bees were bustling about in great
confusion and distress, evidently aware that something great was the
matter. Oliver seized one of the hives, with the board it stood on, and
carried it, as steadily as he could, to a sunny part of the hill, where
he put it down on the grass. He then went for another, asking Mildred
to come part of the way down to receive the second hive, and put it by
the first, as he saw there was not a moment to lose. She did so; but
she trembled so much, that it was probable she would have let the hive
fall, if it had ever been in her hands. It never was, however. The
soil was now melting away in the water, where Oliver had stood firmly
but a few minutes before. He had to take great care, and to change