directions he received as to the best
means of getting a boat.

The river was a small one. It was stony in parts, so that there was
not much boating. Still there were one or two kept at points along its
course, and Alfy found himself, at length, asking a jolly-looking old
gentleman, to whom he had been directed, but whom he did not know at
all, if he would lend his boat, and telling him why it was wanted.

"Eh! what! house all surrounded by water? Quite an island, eh? That's
what we used to learn at school--Island House, eh?"

"Yes, that is what we call it," laughed Alfy, somewhat reassured by the
jolly old gentleman's cheerfulness and geniality.

"Of course I'll lend the boat," said the old gentleman. "That's what
we've got to do, help one another--and mind you think of that, my boy;
but the question is, how can you get it up to the house?"

"I heard that the flood was running into the river," replied Alfy, "so
I thought I could row up that way."

"What! you row up against the flood!" exclaimed the jolly old
gentleman; "you can't do it."

"I can try," said Alfy.

"Well, I might try and help you, but I am not much of a rower, and my
son--it is he, really, who uses the boat--he is away from home. I
question if I could pull my own weight. Most mysterious thing this
flood. Where does it come from? How did it happen?"

So Alfy told what he had heard beside the hedge.

"Eh! what! eh! this is getting serious! One of the banks of Tarnwick
reservoir burst! One man saying it is because of another's
carelessness! This must be seen to. What sort of men were they?
Should you know them again?"

And the jolly old gentleman who was now looking very serious, drew from
Alfy all he knew about the men he had heard talking by the hedge.

"I must see to this quickly," said the old gentleman. "Send a
policeman after them. Take the boat, my lad, and keep her as long as
she is of any use to you. Good-bye, and good luck." And away he went.

Knowing that speed was very necessary, Alfy decided to try and row up
the boat at once. At first, he thought he would seek help from some
friends in the village. Then he determined not to do so. The village
was some little distance from the jolly old gentleman's house, and some
time, he thought, would be wasted in going to and fro. So he jumped in
the boat, and cast off.

This was a case, however, of "more haste, less speed." If he had
obtained assistance he would have