"Where was that wee bit of life last night?" said Webb; "and how could it
keep up heart?"
"Possibly it looked in at a window and saw some one reading," thought
Amy; and she smiled so sweetly at the conceit that Webb asked, "How many
pennies will you take for your thoughts?"
"They are not in the market;" and she laughed outright as she turned
away.
"The true place to witness the flood will be at the old red bridge
further down the stream," said Leonard; and they drove as rapidly as the
bad wheeling permitted to that point, and found that Leonard was right.
Just above the bridge was a stone dam, by which the water was backed up a
long distance, and a precipitous wooded bank rose on the south side. This
had shielded the ice from the sun, and it was still very thick when the
pressure of the flood came upon it. Up to this time it had not given way,
and had become the cause of an ice-gorge that every moment grew more
threatening. The impeded torrent chafed and ground the cakes together,
surging them up at one point and permitting them to sink at another, as
the imprisoned waters struggled for an outlet. The solid ice still held
near the edge of the dam, although it was beginning to lift and crack
with the tawny flood pouring over, under, and around it.
"Suppose we cross to the other side, nearest home," said Burt, who was
driving; and with the word he whipped up the horses and dashed through
the old covered structure.
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