erent parishes. Death, that brought these
together, disunited hundreds. Poor Dolman's body was found scarce a
mile from his house, but his wife's eleven miles on the other side of
Hillsborough; and this wide separation of those who died in one place by
one death, was constant, and a pitiable feature of the tragedy.

At last they got to the house, and Little shuddered at the sight of it;
here not only was the whole front wall taken out, but a part of the
back wall; the jagged chimneys of the next house still clung to this
miserable shell, whose upper floors were slanting sieves, and on its
lower was a deep layer of mud, with the carcass of a huge sow lying on
it, washed in there all the way from Hatfield village.

The people had all run away from the house, and no wonder, for it seemed
incredible that it could stand a single moment longer; never had ruin
come so close to demolition and then stopped.

There was nothing to be done here, and Ransome went back to
Hillsborough, keeping this side the water.

Daybreak realized his worst fears: between Poma Bridge and the first
suburb of Hillsborough the place was like a battle-field; not that many
had been drowned on the spot, but that, drowned all up the valley by the
flood at its highest, they had been brought down and deposited in the
thick layer of mud left by the abating waters. Some were cruelly gashed
and mangled by the hard objects with which they had come in contact.
Others wore a peaceful expression and had color in their cheeks. One
drew tears from both these valiant men. It was a lovely little girl,
with her little hands before her face to keep out the sight of death.

Here and there, a hand or a ghastly face appearing above the mud showed
how many must be hidden altogether, and Ransome hurried home to get more
assistance to disinter the dead.

Just before the suburb of Allerton the ground is a dead flat, and here
the flying lake had covered a space a mile broad, doing frightful
damage to property but not much to life, because wherever it expanded it
shallowed in proportion.

In part of this flat a gentleman had a beautiful garden and
pleasure-grounds overnight: they were now under water, and their
appearance was incredible; the flood expanding here and then
contracting, had grounded large objects and left small ones floating. In
one part of the garden it had landed a large wheat-rick, which now stood
as if it belonged there, though it had been built five mil