"Here comes Arnold, I will ask him what he thinks," said Lynch, as he saw one of the elder boys approaching.
"Arnold, will you look here a minute."
"What is it you want?" said Arnold, stepping up to the window.
"Do you think there is any danger of the river overflowing?"
Arnold watched the turbulent flow of the waters for a few minutes in complete silence; the conversation we have reported had attracted several more of the boys to the window, so that quite a circle surrounded him, waiting anxiously for his verdict. Arnold knew not what to think; he had never before seen the river in such a state as he now beheld it, so full or so rapid; he was half afraid there was danger, but did not care to give his fears expression, for fear of frightening the boys, but in his secret heart he determined to call the doctor's attention to its condition, and ask his opinion.
Turning to the group, he said, "Well, boys, I am not competent to give an opinion, but such a thing has never before occurred, to my recollection."
"But old Badger, up in the town, says he recollects a flood when he was a boy, which carried away a few cottages," said one of the group.
"Pooh! old Badger is in his second childhood," said Arnold, trying to make light of the affair; "he must mean the great deluge."
"Well, I only know what he told me," said the boy.
"Yes, but if you believe all you hear, you will gain some extraordinary knowledge in the course of your life," said Arnold, walking away in search of the doctor.