think would be a wise thing to do," Max remarked;
"because they couldn't tell but what they'd run into a gap, and a train
be lost. Railroads have troubles enough without taking such risks."

"But what if the river keeps booming along like this for a week?"
suggested Bandy-legs, prone to imagine things much worse than they were
in truth.

"Not much danger of that," ventured Steve; "but even then why should it
matter to us if trains couldn't run?"

"Huh! how long d'ye think the town of Carson could live without grub?"
was what the other flung at him. "Every day the visible food supply
would keep on getting lower and lower, with everything going out and
nothing coming in. And deliver me from running up against a regular
_famine_. A feller has got to eat if he wants to live, don't he?"

"You do, we know that, Bandy-legs, and so does Toby here," jeered Steve;
"but it strikes me you forget the farmer community when you talk about
our going hungry. A good many might be kept from coming into town with
loads, but there'd be enough to keep things moving along. What's the use
bothering about that; plenty of other things to keep you guessing. It'd
ease my mind a heap for instance if I just knew the girls had left that
house of Asa French down below, and taken to higher ground. Can't help
thinking they might be foolish enough to try and stay there till the
water got so high all around that only a boat could be of any use, and
they mightn't have one. I even tried to see if I could borrow a boat of
any kind, but you couldn't right now, for love or money. Everybody's
holding on to what they've got."

"W-w-well, when it's f-f-flooding like it is now, don't you reckon it's
the right thing to keep an ark, if so be you g-g-got one? Where'd old
Noah a been if he'd allowed himself to be tempted to b-b-bargain for his
b-b-boat when the rain started to come down? Wish I had even a canoe
myself; I'd feel easier a h-h-heap, let me tell you."

Toby was beginning to take the thing very seriously. He seldom laughed
now, and many of the rather pitiful sights he saw all around him made an
indelible impression on his mind.

"Worse luck we can't see all that's coming down the river," ventured
Steve, presently. "The water's getting so high that it's hard to find a
place where you can look out over the whole valley. And I've fetched my
camera along, too, hoping to snatch off a few pictures to remember this
flood by. Tell you what,