Let us take him home to Maggie at once."
As they were about to depart they saw Dr. Marvin driving down to the
opposite side, and they mockingly beckoned him to cross the raging
torrent. He shook his head ruefully, and returned up the hill again. A
rapid drive through the Moodna Valley brought them to the second bridge,
which would evidently escape, for the flats above it were covered with
_debris_ and ice, and the main channel was sufficiently clear to permit
the flood to pass harmlessly on. They then took the river road homeward.
The bridge over the Idlewild brook, near its entrance into the Moodna,
was safe, although it had a narrow graze. They also found that the ice in
the river at the mouth of the creek had been broken up in a wide
semicircle, and as they ascended a hill that commanded an extensive view
of Newburgh Bay they saw that the ice remaining had a black, sodden
appearance.
"It will all break up in a few hours," said Burt, "and then hurrah for
duck-shooting!"
Although spring had made such a desperate onset the previous night, it
seemed to have gained but a partial advantage over winter. The weather
continued raw and blustering for several days, and the overcast sky
permitted but chance and watery gleams of sunshine. Slush and mud
completed the ideal of the worst phase of March. The surface of the earth
had apparently returned to that period before the dry land was made to
appear.
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