Part 8 (1/2)
”Yes, I believe so, dear. And, for one thing, I almost wish she may not come in a boat. Who should tell her that father was carried away into all those waters, without having spoken one word to us?”
”If they are both dead, do you not think they are together now?” asked Mildred.
”Certainly. Pastor Dendel says that all who love one another well enough will live together, where they will never die any more.”
”And I am sure they did,” said Mildred.
”If they see us now,” said Oliver, ”it must make a great difference to them whether we are frightened and miserable, or whether we behave as we ought to do. Let us try not to be frightened, for their sakes, dear.”
”And if they are not with us all the while, G.o.d is,” whispered Mildred.
”O, yes; but G.o.d knows ... G.o.d will not expect...”
”Surely He will feel in some way as they do about us,” said Mildred, remembering and repeating the verse Pastor Dendel had taught her.
”'Like as a father pitieth his children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear him.'”
”'For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.'” So Oliver continued the psalm.
”There comes the sun!” exclaimed Mildred, happy to greet some one familiar object amidst this strange scene.
The scene hardly appeared the same when the sun, after first peeping above the hills like a golden star, flamed up to its full size, and cast a broad glittering light over the wide waters, and into the very eyes of the children. They felt the warmth too, immediately; and it was very cheering. The eastern hills now almost disappeared in the sun's blaze; and those to the west shone very clearly; and the southern ridge near Gainsborough, looked really but a little way off. The children knew, however, that there were three full miles between them and any land, except their Red-hill, and a few hillocks which peeped above the flood in the Levels: and there was no sign of a boat, far or near. Oliver checked a sigh, when he had convinced himself of this; and began to look what had become of the people they knew in the Levels.
Neighbour Gool's dwelling stood low; and nothing was now to be seen of it but a dark speck, which might be the top of a chimney. It was possible that the whole family might have escaped; for Gool and his wife were to be at Haxey yesterday; and they might there hear of the mischief intended or done to the sluices, in time to save the rest of the household. Some of the roofs of the hamlet of Sandtoft stood above the waters; and the whole upper part of the chapel used by the foreigners; and many might easily have found a refuge there. Further off, a conspicuous object was the elegant crocketed spire of one of the beautiful Lincolns.h.i.+re churches, standing high, as if inviting those who were dismayed to come and save themselves in the air from the dangers of the waters. Oliver wondered whether any sufferers were now watching the sunrise from the long ridge of the church-roof, or from the windows of the spire.
One of the most curious sights was the fleets of haystacks that were sailing along in the courses of the currents. As the smaller stacks were sometimes shot forward rapidly, and whirled round by an eddy, while a large stately stack followed forwards, performing the same turns of the voyage, Mildred compared them to a duck and her ducklings in the pond, and Oliver to a great s.h.i.+p voyaging with a fleet of small craft.
They saw sights far more sorrowful than this. They grieved over the fine large trees--some in full leaf--that they saw tumbling about in the torrents which cut through the stiller waters; but it was yet worse to see dead cows, horses, pigs, and sheep carried past--some directly through the garden, or over the spot where the mill had stood. There were also thatched roofs carried away entire; and many a chest, chair, and cow-rack--showing the destruction that had gone on during the night.
While the distant scene was all bright and lovely in the sunrise, these nearer objects, thickly strewn in the muddy waters, were ugly and dismal; and Oliver saw that it did him and his sister no good to watch them. He started, and said they must not be idle any longer.
Just then Ailwin called from the stairs,--
”I say, Oliver, the cow is alive. I heard her low, I'm certain.”
”I am afraid it was only George,” said Mildred. ”He was lowing like the cow, a minute ago.”
”That might be because he heard the real cow,” cried Oliver, with new hope. ”I had rather save the cow than anything. I will see if I cannot get into one of the upper rooms that looks towards the yard. We might have a bridge-rope from more windows than one. Where is Roger? What is he fit for? Is he awake?”
”Awake! Yes, indeed,” whispered Ailwin, coming close up to the children. ”There is more mischief about that boy than you think for.
He is now on the stairs, with more mice, and rats, and spiders, and creeping things about him than I ever saw before in all my days. We are like to be devoured as we stand on our feet; to say nothing of what is to become of us if we lie down.”
Mildred looked at her brother in great terror.
”We must get rid of them, if they really do us hurt,” said Oliver, decidedly, though with an anxious look. ”We must drown them, if they are mischievous. We can do that, you know--at least with the larger things. They cannot get away from us.”
”Drown away!” said Ailwin, mysteriously. ”Drown away! The more you drown the more will come up. Why, did you never hear of the plagues of Egypt?”
”Yes, to be sure. What then?”
”I take this to be a plague of Egypt that that boy has brought upon us.
It is his doing; and you will see that, if you will just look down from where I stand, and watch him making friends with them all.”