Crowded Out o' Crofield; or, The Boy who made his Way

nutes to put on the suit

going down to see it, rain or no rain. There's no telling how high it'll r

n," said Jack to Mary, as he sto

had come so silently

ave all been killed when the steeple came down. I he

eting-house, any way. I heard the elder say

al big church," said

the city as much as

re and I'll come afterward, if I can. I've been studying tw

ack; "but I've had

Melinda came up the stairway. "

wn barefoot?" said Jack; "but I don't wa

ch a time as this,"

ed about his appearance when he found how dark and shadowy the parlor was; and he felt still better wh

great disasters, and Mary did not know just when she was drawn into the talk, or how

ou'll have to go to the barn and gather e

ed before I get back," said Jack; and he

tle lull in the rain, and

t's nearly a foot deep! There'll be the biggest kind

rum. If the house was gloomy, the old barn was darker and gloom

f this. Seems to me I never felt it so before. I

off his blues, exclaiming: "I'll

the eggs in

Holloway had been asking Mary very pa

She took the primary room twice, for 'most a month each time, when the teacher was s

f the house had now b

said Jack. "So are the brooks all over the c

after supper, "I'm go

is father. "Come back and

ere do any damage?

cksmith. "If anything should happen there, we'd have

he noticed was that the force of the rain seemed to have slackened as soon as he was out of d

get," said Jack, as he went along; "but half the

in ribbon rippling along in a wide stretch of sand and gravel. It was a turbid, swollen, roaring flood, alrea

As high as that already,

ind were making openings in the mist, and he soon cau

k at the dam," he said;

r one swift glance. "I never thought of that.

s family were at supper when there came a bang at

John O

hat the water's 'most up to the lower floor of the mill.

gh to ruin me. There are sacks of flour, meal, grain,-all sorts of st

his wife, "i

tchie's coming right up into the mill. Jac

the way. He did not run, but he went quickly enough; and w

and by it stood his father, and near him stood his mother and

to the Four Corners. Ride fast. See how that dam looks and come back and tell me. Mr. Murdoch will

w suppressed voice. "I wish that I

out of his power to utter a word in reply. He did not need to speak to the hor

self, as he felt that motion. "I've seen her

r he found her laboring under a strong impression that things in Crofield were going wrong. She was therefore inclined to go fast, and all that Jack had to do was to hold her in. The blacksmith's son was at home in the saddle. It was not yet dark, a

pond, a bigger grist-mill, and a large saw-mill. That was because there were forests of timbers among t

," said Jack aloud, as he

ong street; but there was a reason for that and Jack

," he exclaimed. "No use asking abou

cited, and the air was fil

all the logs, now,-hundreds on 'em,-just a-pilin' up and a-heapin' up on the dam; and when t

hidden it were breaking away as Jack looke

he rein and pawing the mud under her

y. "That dam wasn't built to stan

from the barrier behind which the foaming

goes! It's

eport was answered by a great cry from the crowd

oes," he said. "Glad the creek's so crooke

instead of following it. Still, Jack and the sorrel had

umor went around that there was something wrong with the dam, and

ond get his grain up into the second story, but the water was

water, and through that silence the thud of hoofs was heard com

e Four Corners dam's gone. The boom

gathered around the sorrel, and there was

'll go down with the first log that strikes it. You drive your b

next number of his journal. Jack dismounted, and her owner took the sorrel to he

er Hammond was anxiously watching his threatened and al

gravel that you were going to sel

ll run off, though. I'll tell you what I'll do, Jack. I'l

ou count in the fifty you sai

ace for a moment, but t

too: saved all there was on the first

oss the pond. It carried a crest of foam, logs, planks, and rubbish, shining white i

d dam had vanished. But it had not. Only a section of its top work, in

ators, and it had hardly died away before

ge!" shou

ready straining hard against the furious water, needed only the ba

the meeting-house, and the dam, and the bridge. Ther

get out of i

energy. "You may get out any way you can, and take your

was the only sound heard for a ful

elief; "the breaking of that hole in the dam let the wat

it. He had turned suddenly and walked away homeward, along the narrow stri

ere women and girls, and the smaller boys, whose mothers and aunts held them and kept them from going nearer the water. Jack found it of no use to say, "Oh, mother, I'm too muddy!" She didn't care how mu

Did you ride fast? I'm glad I can ride! I

, going and coming, up hill and down; and Molly, I kept wishing and thinking every

kly, "father gives it