Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/262

236 will soon be upon us. Hurry, hurry, I say! Merciful St. Anthony! I can hear it roar now!” And true enough, from far in the  distance came a faint, ominous sound, low at  first as the sighing of a summer breeze, yet  dreadful enough to those who understood it,  to paralyze every muscle with terror. With one final shriek Vrouw Hansleer darted into  the house for a moment, then out again and  the children heard the retreating footsteps  splashing hurriedly down the road. After that a deathlike silence reigned in the house.

“Gysbert, they have gone and left us!” cried the terrified Jacqueline. “Left us to perish here like rats drowned in a trap when  the flood reaches us! Oh, it is cruel, cruel!”

“Nonsense!” retorted her brother. “This is the finest thing that could have happened. I am certain the flood will not rise higher than these windows, so we will be perfectly  safe from drowning. And now that they have deserted the house, we can turn our attention to getting out of the door somehow,