sight of him, they started in
surprise, and stopped at once, and looked at him strangely, as though
to ask what he had heard.

Alfy walked straight on, past the opening in the hedge, as though the
men were not there, and on through the pleasant field. But the faces
of those men were impressed on his mind, and he felt he should know
them again.

Certainly their conversation had given him something to think of, but
the chief thing now that he had to do was to purchase provisions, and
have them conveyed to the house. Should he find much damage done at
the village?

That question was soon answered, for, on arriving there, he found that
the flood had passed it almost entirely by. Most of the houses were on
fairly high ground, and the river being near, much of the water had
flowed thither. Yet some of the cottages in the lower part had
suffered, and Alfy heard much of them, and of a farmhouse and its
buildings, which had also been flooded. He heard, too, of the
difficulties which had been experienced in saving some of the animals.

He knew that farmhouse well. He and his sisters had played there with
the children who lived under its pleasant roof. The flood had come so
suddenly, and the house wherein Alfy lived was in such a retired spot,
that no one seemed to have thought of it and its inmates. He therefore
found himself listened to with eagerness and some surprise when he told
of their condition.

"And how am I to send you these goods, then?" asked Mr. Daw, the
tradesman of whom Alfy had been ordering a supply of grocery. "I could
send them by cart, but I have not a boat."

"Do you know where I could borrow one?" asked Alfy anxiously.

Well, Mr. Daw was not sure. There were a few boats on the river, but
how was one to be brought from thence to the flood near the house?

Nevertheless, he thought of a few persons to whom Alfy could apply, and
the boy left him, after arranging that he would return later to point
out the spot where the goods were to be taken.

Alfy bought a few more goods, a joint of meat among them, at some other
shops, directing them to be taken to Mr. Daw, who had promised to send
all together. The boy had then a troublesome task; it was to find a
boat or some means of conveying the provisions to the Island House. He
had not time to talk much to any of the acquaintances and friends he
met, though they were greatly interested in the condition of affairs at
his home, and various were the