24 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



wind blew with such blinding force up the street that 

 I had great difficulty in making my way against it. 



When I had got half-way, I met an officer, whom 

 I knew, coming straight from the dike. He told me 

 immediately that it was a false alarm, and that, up to 

 that moment, the rampart was intact, but how long 

 it could be maintained in the teeth of such a storm 

 he knew not. As it was, the waters splashed over 

 in some places from the force of the wind, and the 

 torches were blown out ; so the soldiers and others 

 had to work in darkness. 



I walked back towards the town. People were rush- 

 ing a.bout in every direction, and cries and lamenta- 

 tions mingled with the whistling and howling of the 

 storm : it was a regular panic. The authorities had 

 much difficulty in calming the people, and in making 

 them believe that the report of the breaking of the 

 dike was a false alarm. 



It was nearly midnight, when I threw myself, with- 

 out undressing, on a sofa in my room at the hotel. I 

 must have dropped off to sleep at once, for I was not 

 conscious of anything till I found myself awakened 

 by the tolling of a loud bell I started up, and then 

 the warning sound of three successive cannon-shots 

 gave the signal of distress. I struck a light, and just 

 made out that it was three o'clock, when the candle 

 was blown out by the draught, the window-frame 

 rattled and shook again ; so I knew directly that the 

 Avind had not gone down. I got on my overcoat, and 



