" Uncle Daniel told her, "and they were about
ready to move out. We'll bring them up here if it gets any worse."

"Why don't they go to the gates in a boat?" asked Bert.

"Why, my dear boy," said Uncle Daniel, "anybody who would go near that
torrent in a boat might as well jump off the bridge. The falls are
twenty-five feet high, and the water seems to have built them up twice
that. If one went within two hundred feet of the dam the surging water
would carry him over."

"You see," said Harry, explaining it further, "there is like a window
in the falls, a long low door. When this is opened the water is drawn
down under and does not all have to go over the falls."

"And if there is too much pressure against the stone wall that makes
the dam, the wall may be carried away. That's what we call the dam
bursting," finished Uncle Daniel.

All this was very interesting to Bert, who could not help being
frightened at the situation.

The boys told Uncle Daniel how the tank in the barn had overflowed, and
he said they had done good work to prevent any damage.

"Oh, Uncle Daniel!" exclaimed Freddie, just then running up from the
cellar. "Come and see my ark! It's most done, and I'm going to put all
the animals and things in it to save them from the flood."

"An ark!" exclaimed his uncle, laughing. "Well, you're a sensible
little fellow to build an ark to-day, Freddie, for we will surely need
one if this keeps up," and away they went to examine the raft Freddie
had actually nailed together in the cellar.

That was an awful night in Meadow Brook, and few people went to bed,
staying up instead to watch the danger of the flood. The men took turns
walking along the pond bank all night long, and their low call each
hour seemed to strike terror in the hearts of those who were in danger.

The men carried lanterns, and the little specks of light were all that
could be seen through the darkness.

Mrs. Burns had refused to leave her home.

"I will stay as long as I can," she told Uncle Daniel. "I have lived
here many a year, and that dam has not broken yet, so I'm not going to
give up hope now!"

"But you could hardly get out in time should it break," insisted Uncle
Daniel, "and you know we have plenty of room and you are welcome with
us."

Still she insisted on staying, and each hour when the watchman would
call from the pond bank, just like they used to do in old war-times:
"Two o'clock-and--all is--well!" Mrs. Burns would l