Overflowed lands in the Mississippi Valley, where scores of lives are lost when the rising waters break down a levee.
Courtesy of U. S. Weather Bureau.
A lurch almost threw Ross upon his face and the whole house swayed as though with a violent earthquake. The next instant, a sense of motion beneath them told the boys that the house was afloat.
"The house has gone, the house has gone! What are we going to do?" cried the crippled boy.
"That's all right, Anton," the older lad said consolingly, "things aren't so bad. See, it's beginning to get daylight."
"But," said the younger boy, "the house is floating down to Pirate's Cave, that gully where the big rocks are. If we run up against those, the house'll be smashed to bits, sure."
Ross thought for a moment and saw that his chum was right.
"Guess we'll have to take to the boat after all, Anton," he said, "it's a good thing the house got on a level keel again, when she came afloat."
Action was needed and that immediately. Ross climbed half-way through the window.
"I've got to get that boat up here in a hurry," he said, "the current's swift enough, when you're in that small boat, but this house doesn't float down so fast. It's a mile, anyway, to the gully."