256 DAYS IN THE OPEN 



South Plymouth retired for the night, but no one 

 thought of danger. Shortly after midnight a little 

 chap in one of those homes was awakened by his 

 father, who lifted him out of his trundle bed and 

 wrapped him in a blanket. The lad did not under- 

 stand what had happened, even when he saw the 

 water ankle-deep on the living-room floor, or when 

 his father carried him through the swiftly rushing 

 flood to the house of a neighbour on the height of 

 land. It never occurred to him to be afraid so long 

 as his father's arms were about him. 



In the sunshine of the next morning father and 

 boy walked hand in hand down the street to the 

 home which they had so hastily abandoned the 

 night before. The creek had returned to its bed 

 and was behaving much as usual. The boy won- 

 dered not a little at the flood-wood left stranded 

 against the picket fence, and was not slow to begin 

 an investigation of the changes wrought in his 

 playground by the visitor of the previous night. 



Over towards one corner of the yard was a de- 

 pression in the ground with water still standing in 

 it, and as the lad passed this pool he saw something 

 moving. Although less than three years old, he 

 had learned that a moving object in the water was 

 very likely to be a fish. Young as he was, a great 

 passion of pursuit seized him, and he grabbed with 

 both hands at the object dimly seen through the 

 roily water. Conviction became a certainty as he 

 felt the fish squirm out of his grasp and received a 



