ucid intervals, he insisted upon knowing all that had happened,
so that he might tell the boys what was best to do. On this day Tom had
a story of more than ordinary interest to tell him, about the battle and
the chance of rescue which had so narrowly passed them. Sam was
interested in it all as a matter of course, but he was still more
deeply interested, it seemed, in the condition of the sand near the
place where he was lying. He had dug a little hole with his hand, and
feeling of the sand found it decidedly wet. Turning to Tom, he said:

"The river is rising rapidly, isn't it?"

"Yes; but how did you find it out?"

"By the sand. I've been watching it a good deal since the fall rains set
in, as I'm afraid the river will drive us out of here. You see, the
water works easily through the sand, and you can always tell what the
level of the river is, if its banks are sandy, by digging down to where
the sand is wet."

"Yes," said Tom, "but the river isn't within a hundred feet of us yet."

"You are mistaken. It is within six inches of us," said Sam.

"How's that?"

"Well, this bank is almost exactly level, and when the river gets above
its edge it spreads at once all over it. Now the sand is wet within six
inches of the top, and the river is within six inches of the edge of the
bank. When it rises six or eight inches more, it'll be in here, and I'm
afraid it will rise that much before morning. At any rate we must be
ready for it."

"What can we do?" asked Tom in alarm. "There's no place to hide on the
upper bank."

"We mustn't quit this bank, and we mustn't quit the drift-pile either,"
replied Sam. "You must find a good place, high up in the drift where, by
pulling out sticks, you and Joe can make a place for us to stay in."

"But, Sam, what if the water gets to us there?"

"It won't get to us there."

"How do you know?"

"Because the biggest freshets always come in the spring, and the top of
this drift-pile was put where it is by the biggest freshets, so the
river won't go near the top in November. You see, as the drift _floated_
on top of the water to its present place, the top of the pile must be
the highest point, or very nearly the highest, that the water ever
reaches. If you can find a good place therefore in the upper part of the
drift-pile, we shall be safe there. But you'd better see about it at
once, as the water may be in here before morning, and at any rate we
mustn't allow ourselves to be taken