hunger, made their way to a
farmhouse which had great difficulty in supplying them with provisions.
Coals rose in Abchurch and Eastthorpe to four pounds a ton, and just
before the frost broke there were not ten tons in both places taken
together. Suddenly the wind went round by the east to the south-west,
and it began to rain heavily, not only in the Eastern Midlands, but far
away in the counties to the west and south-west through which the river
ran. The snow and ice melted very quickly, and then came a flood, the
like of which had not been seen in those parts before. The outfall has
been improved since that time, so that in all probability no such flood
will happen again. The water of course went all over the low-lying
meadows. For miles and miles on either bank it spread into vast lakes,
and the only mark by which to distinguish the bed of the stream was the
greater rush and the roar. Cottages were surrounded, and people were
rescued by boats. Every sluice and mill-dam were opened, but the torrent
poured past them, and at Cottington Mill it swept from millpool to tail
right over the road which divided them, and washed away nearly the whole
garden. When the rain ceased the worst had to come, for the upper waters
did not reach Eastthorpe until three or four days later. Then there was
indeed a sight to be seen! The southern end of Eastthorpe High Street
was actually two feet under water, and a man in a boat--event to be
recorded for ever in the Eastthorpe annals--went from the timber yard on
one side of the street through the timber-yard gates and into the coal-
yard opposite. Parts of haystacks, trees, and dead bodies of sheep and
oxen drove down on the yellow, raging waves, and were caught against the
abutments of the bridge. At one time it was thought that it must give
way, for the arches were choked; the water was inches higher on the west
side than on the east, and men with long poles stood on the parapet to
break up the obstructions.

At last the flood began to subside, and on the afternoon of the day of
the creditors' meeting Mr. Orkid Jim appeared at the boathouse at the
bottom of Rectory Lane and asked to be taken across. The stream was
still very strong, but the meadows were clear, and some repair was
necessary to the iron work of a sluice-gate just opposite, which Jim
wished to inspect before the men were set to work.

"Don't know as it's safe, Mr. Jim," said the boatman. "It's as much as
ever