s of
the children. They felt the warmth too, immediately; and it was very
cheering. The eastern hills now almost disappeared in the sun's blaze;
and those to the west shone very clearly; and the southern ridge near
Gainsborough, looked really but a little way off. The children knew,
however, that there were three full miles between them and any land,
except their Red-hill, and a few hillocks which peeped above the flood
in the Levels: and there was no sign of a boat, far or near. Oliver
checked a sigh, when he had convinced himself of this; and began to look
what had become of the people they knew in the Levels.

Neighbour Gool's dwelling stood low; and nothing was now to be seen of
it but a dark speck, which might be the top of a chimney. It was
possible that the whole family might have escaped; for Gool and his wife
were to be at Haxey yesterday; and they might there hear of the mischief
intended or done to the sluices, in time to save the rest of the
household. Some of the roofs of the hamlet of Sandtoft stood above the
waters; and the whole upper part of the chapel used by the foreigners;
and many might easily have found a refuge there. Further off, a
conspicuous object was the elegant crocketed spire of one of the
beautiful Lincolnshire churches, standing high, as if inviting those who
were dismayed to come and save themselves in the air from the dangers of
the waters. Oliver wondered whether any sufferers were now watching the
sunrise from the long ridge of the church-roof, or from the windows of
the spire.

One of the most curious sights was the fleets of haystacks that were
sailing along in the courses of the currents. As the smaller stacks
were sometimes shot forward rapidly, and whirled round by an eddy, while
a large stately stack followed forwards, performing the same turns of
the voyage, Mildred compared them to a duck and her ducklings in the
pond, and Oliver to a great ship voyaging with a fleet of small craft.
They saw sights far more sorrowful than this. They grieved over the
fine large trees--some in full leaf--that they saw tumbling about in the
torrents which cut through the stiller waters; but it was yet worse to
see dead cows, horses, pigs, and sheep carried past--some directly
through the garden, or over the spot where the mill had stood. There
were also thatched roofs carried away entire; and many a chest, chair,
and cow-rack--showing the destruction that had gone on during the night.