114 



WINTER 



breach occur with such a tide as this and it could 

 never be stopped. 



And now, somewhat past noon, the men were 

 again upon the bank. As they neared Five-Forks 

 sluice, the central and largest of the water-gates, 

 they heard a smothered boom above the scream of 

 the wind in their ears. They were startled ; but it 

 was only the sound of a gun somewhere off in the 

 meadow. It was the gun of the boy in the oil-skins. 



Late that afternoon Doctor " Sam," driving home 

 along the flooded road of the low back swamp, 



caught sight, as he came out in view of the river, of 

 a little figure in yellow oil-skins away out on the 

 meadow. 



The doctor stopped his horse and hallooed. .But 



