't all on it come here las'
time de river was up?"

"Well, there's too much of it for that, and besides, Sam says this place
is safe, and you know he is always right about things when he speaks
positively about them."

"Mas' Tom, don' you know Mas' Sam done been a-talkin' nonsense for two
weeks now?"

"Yes; but that's only when he's out of his head."

"How you know when he's outen his head an' when he ain't?"

"We know he's out of his head when he talks nonsense."

"Well, maybe dis here 's nonsense. I jest knows it is, and dat's how I
know Mas' Sam was outen his head when he said it."

Tom saw that Joe was not to be convinced, and so he contented himself
with saying,

"Well, we'll see."

"Yes, dat's jest it. We _will_ see, and feel too, when we all gets
drownded in de water."

The water came to a stand about midnight, and was falling slowly the
next morning. But when morning came it was raining hard, and the rain
was evidently not a local but a general one, wherefore, Tom feared that
the fall would shortly be changed into a rise, and that the bank would
soon be covered. He watched his stake carefully, visiting it every half
hour. At nine o'clock the river had fallen three inches, and was about
eight inches below the bank. From nine to ten it fell only about half an
inch. Between ten and eleven the fall was not more than a quarter of an
inch. Between eleven and twelve no fall at all was perceptible. From
twelve to one there was a slight rise. Between one and two it rose
nearly an inch. The next hour brought with it a rise of two inches. By
five o'clock the level of the water was barely two inches below the
edge of the bank, and as it was rising at the rate of two or three
inches an hour, Sam thought it time to remove from their old to their
new quarters. The change was of advantage to the sick boy, who was now
getting somewhat better at any rate, and when he found himself in the
new place the interest he showed in examining all the details of its
arrangements, was the best possible evidence of improvement.

"Come here, little woman," he said to Judie, "and give an account of
yourself. You borrowed my knife yesterday, and somebody has been using
it in cutting bush tops to make a smooth floor with, and the idea was a
very good one. Can you tell me who it was?"

"Maybe it was Tom," she replied mischievously.

"No, it was not Tom," Sam answered. "He's too much of a great awkward
boy to think of anything so c