trembled, as the wind smote it hard, but it
held fast and did not lose a timber. That apprehension passed, they
looked to see whether it would turn the rain, and noted with joy in
their workmanship and pleasure in their security that not a drop made
its way between the poles and bark.

These early fugitive fears gone, they settled down to ease and
observation of the storm, being able to leave the door open about a
foot, as the wind was driving against the back of the house. It was
almost as dark as night, with gusts that whistled and screamed, and the
rain seemed to come in great waves of water. Despite the dusk, they saw
leaves torn from the trees and whirled away in showers. Every phase and
change of the storm was watched by them with the keenest attention and
interest. Weather was a tremendous factor in the life of the borderer,
and he was compelled to guide most of his actions by it.

"How long do you think it will last, Sol?" asked Henry.

"I don't see no break in the clouds," replied the shiftless one. "This
wind will die after a while, but the rain will keep right on. I look for
it to last all today, an' all the night that's comin'."

"I think you're right, Sol, an' it's a mighty big rain, too. The whole
swamp except our island will be swimming in water."

"But it won't be no flood, that is, like the big flood," said Long Jim.
"But ef one did come I wouldn't mind it much ef we had an ark same ez
Noah. Ef you could only furgit all them poor people that got theirselves
drowned it would be mighty fine, sailin' 'roun' in an ark a mile or so
long, guessin' at the places whar the towns hev stood, an' lettin' down
a line now an' then to sound fur the tops uv the highest mountains in
the world."

"You wouldn't hev no time fur lettin' down lines fur mountain tops, Jim
Hart," said Shif'less Sol.

"An' why wouldn't I hev time fur lettin' down lines fur anythin' I
wanted, you lazy Solomon Hyde?"

"'Cause it would be your job to feed the animals, an' to do it right
you'd hev to git up early in the mornin' an' work purty nigh to midnight
all the forty days the flood lasted. Me an' Henry an' Paul an' Tom would
spen' most o' our time settin' on the edge o' the ark with our
umbrellers h'isted, lookin' at the scenery, while you wuz down in the
bowels o' the ark, heavin' in more meat to the lions an' tigers, which
wuz allus roarin' fur more."

"I wouldn't feed no animals, not ef every one uv 'em starved to death.
Besides