safely hauled up,
the oars, being fixed to the side, being also saved. The boat was
returned to Mr. Suter's and fresh manned, when it proceeded to a house
occupied by a family of the name of Cumin, consisting of an old couple,
their daughter, and grandson. By the time they reached the cottage, its
western side was entirely gone, and the boat was pushed in at the gap.
Not a sound was heard within, and they suspected that all were drowned;
but, on looking through a hole in a partition, they discovered the
unhappy inmates roosted, like fowls, on the beams of the roof. They
were, one by one, transferred safely to the boat, half dead with cold;
and melancholy to relate, the old man's mind, being too much enfeebled to
withstand the agonizing apprehensions he had suffered, was now utterly
deranged.

[Picture: Rescuing cottagers]

The poor Funns' were still the last to be relieved. They and their
cattle were clustered on their little speck of land; and the poor
quadrupeds, being chilled by standing so long in the water, were
continually pressing inwards on them. It was between six and seven
o'clock, the weather was clearer, and the waters were subsiding. The
task being the most difficult of all, none but the most skilful rowers
were allowed to undertake it. One wide inundation stretched from Monro's
house to the tiny spot where Funns and his family were; and five
tremendously tumultuous streams raged through it with elevated waves.
The moment they dashed into the first of them they were whirled down for
a great way; but having once got through it, they pulled up in the
quieter water beyond, to prepare for the next; and in doing so, Sergeant
Grant stood in the prow, and with a long rope, the end of which was fixed
to the boat, and wherever he thought he had footing, he sprang out and
dragged them up. The rest followed his example, and in this way they
were enabled to start afresh with a sufficient advantage, and they
crossed all the outer streams in the same manner. The last they
encountered, being towards the middle of the flood, was fearful, and
carried them very far down. But Funns himself, overjoyed to behold them,
waded towards them, and gave them his best help to drag up the boat
again. Glad was he to see his wife and children safely set in the boat.
The perils of their return were not few; but they were at length happily
landed.

These examples will suffice to show the nature and extent