Part 2 (2/2)
[Ill.u.s.tration: ”ALFY AND MANSY MADE QUITE AN ENJOYABLE MEAL.”]
”I wish this water was fit to drink,” she said, ”for I feel thirsty.
Now tell me where it comes from, if you can, and how the flood happened?”
”It was yesterday afternoon,” replied Alfy. ”About three o'clock we suddenly heard a loud noise, and then the water came rus.h.i.+ng all round the house and into the lower rooms too! We were frightened and surprised at first, I can tell you!”
”I expect you were,” replied Mansy sympathetically. ”And all in the lower rooms. Oh, mercy on us, what a to-do! Is the mill-dam broke, do you think?”
”I don't know, Mansy. I'm not sure if it came that way. Have some more tongue, Mansy dear? It's jolly!”
”Thank you,” exclaimed Mansy; ”I don't mind if I do, Master Alfy.
Well,” she continued, as she took out some more biscuits, ”if anybody'd told me this morning that I should have had my supper to-night in a was.h.i.+n' tub on the water I'd 'a said they was cracked!”
”And so should I,” said Alfy. ”Still, here we are, Mansy; and the next question is how long shall we be obliged to stay?”
”Yes, indeed,” she sighed; ”that is the question, and one we can't answer!”
”We must make the best of it,” he said bravely. ”I think I could swim to the house and drag the tub by the rope.”
”I wouldn't hear of it for the world, Master Alfy,” protested his nurse; ”you'd catch your death!”
”Perhaps I could walk in the water,” he replied. ”I don't believe it is very deep. Try it, dear Mansy, with your umbrella, and see how deep it is.”
”I wouldn't let you, Master Alfy; I wouldn't indeed. You'd catch your death, I tell you!”
”But we can't stay here all night, Mansy.”
”I can't let you get into the water, Master Alfy. You don't know how deep it is, nor how strong it's a-runnin'; and you'll catch your death!”
”What dreadful disasters!” laughed Alfy. But he knew quite well that his nurse could make up her mind firmly, and that it would be useless to argue with her. Still he thought he might have tried to get the boat nearer the house.
The moon was now s.h.i.+ning brightly, and a beautiful silvery path of light lay on the water. Alfy sat on the side of the tub opposite his nurse and watched the scene. It was a strange picture--the unaccustomed flood, the dark ma.s.s of the house, and the tree tops standing out of the water, the bright moonlight, which seemed to make the scene almost more desolate, and the curious craft in which they were sitting. The scene deeply impressed itself on Alfy's mind.
”Well, it is of no use to sit here doing nothing,” said Mansy presently. ”If we cannot do anything else, I think we'll try and go to sleep. I am so tired. Perhaps we can see better in the morning what to do.”
”How funny to sleep in a tub on the water!” exclaimed Alfy.
”Yes, and all through me,” said Mansy; ”I am sorry. If you had not come for me you might have been in your own nice warm bed!”
”Oh, never mind me, Mansy; I could not leave you there all night.”
”I might have walked to the village.”
”It's all right, dear Mansy, I'm happy enough. Let us snuggle down and get to sleep.”
And so after they had said their prayers, and thanked G.o.d for His preserving care, they made themselves as comfortable as they could in their strange, cramped quarters, and actually began to doze a little.
But it was an uneasy slumber, and presently Alfy awoke and found the moon s.h.i.+ning full on his face. The light was also bright on the hedgetop surrounding the garden of the house; and the idea darted into his mind that if he could but get the tub beside the hedge he could work it along toward the house by pus.h.i.+ng the paddles against the hedgetops or pulling at them one after the other.
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