have no
time to stop here fooling with you till it is broad daylight," said the
man, starting to his feet as if about to put his threat into instant
execution.

Miss Tabby jumped up and scuttled out of the boat as fast as she could
go, without even having stopped to kiss her lady "good-bye."

And this was the last Miss Tabby saw or heard of Sybil Berners for many
long years.

CHAPTER XXVI.

AFTER THE DISASTER.

That flow strewed wrecks about the grass;
That ebb swept out the flocks to sea.
A fatal ebb and flow, alas!
To many more than mine and me.--JEAN INGELOW.

The day after the terrible disaster the sun arose upon a scene of awful
desolation!

Great was the devastation of lands and dwellings, and the destruction of
life and property, by the memorable Black Valley flood!

The Black Valley itself, from its very form, position, and
circumstances, seemed doomed to suffer tremendously from such a
disaster.

It was a long, deep, and narrow valley, shut in by two high mountain
ridges, which, interlocked in rude rocky precipices at its higher
extremity, where the Black Torrent, dashing down the steeps, formed the
head of the Black River, which, fed by many other mountain springs, ran
down the whole length of the valley, and past the village of Blackville
at its lower end.

By the fatal deluge of rain, all the mountain springs were raised to
torrents, and the Black Torrent was swollen to a cataract, and all
poured down vast floods of water into the Black River, which rose and
overflowed its banks even to the mountains' side; so that the Black
Valley became a black lake.

The advance of the day, and the retreat of the waters, showed at length
the full extent of the disaster.

The dwellings in the valley, and in the village at its foot, were nearly
all swept away. Only the strongest buildings, and those on the highest
grounds, escaped destruction.

The hotel, the court-house, and the church, were each damaged, but not
destroyed.

The prison was carried away, and several of the prisoners drowned.

The family of Dr. Hart were saved. Though more than once submerged, they
clung to the floating roof, until they were carried down into calmer
waters, where they were picked up by the men who were out in boats to
rescue the drowning.

The Black Hall Manor suffered severely. The Hall itself was too strongly
built, and upon too high ground, to be even endangered; but its detached
office