Tunnels and Their Making 41 



The men barely escaped with their lives, 

 and the work of months was ruined in 

 an hour or so. By great efforts the water 

 was pumped out, and the Great Spring 

 penned in so that it should do no further 

 damage. 



But now a worse disaster was brewing. 

 There had been a succession of high tides 

 which had worried the engineers, though 

 they felt that all would be well so long as 

 nothing worse supervened. There was one 

 danger which the local people feared, and 

 they warned the workers; it was that if 

 a strong wind was blowing against the tide 

 there would probably be trouble. At first 

 the winds were kind, and then came an 

 ominous change. The wind shifted and 

 blew heavily downstream. The tide was 

 flowing in strongly, far higher than was 

 commonly experienced, and it met the 

 wind. 



Now came a struggle between wind and 

 water and the former won, forcing back 

 the water and causing it to spread above 

 the low-lying banks of the Severn. This 



