There was a moment of silence, broken only by the patter of the rain.
"Hurry! Hurry!" Jack cried, again pounding on the portal.
This time he heard, after a wait of a few seconds, some one moving in the house, then a sleepy voice demanded:
"What is it? What's the matter? Who's there?"
"Never mind who I am!" Jack replied. "It's the pony express rider, between Golden Crossing and Rainbow Ridge, if you have to know. But the dam is giving way! It may have gone out now! There'll be the biggest kind of flood on these flats in half an hour! Get up! Take to the hills!"
The door was thrown open, revealing a man wrapped in a blanket He seemed just to have gotten up out of bed.
"What's that?" he inquired, sleepily.
Jack repeated his warning. The man understood now. He rushed back in to the room.
"Come on, 'Mandy!" he yelled. "Git the children! Hustle into what clothes you can! We've got to skip! The dam is going out! Quick now!"
"Warn the others nearest you!" Jack cried, as he turned Sunger away from the house. "I'm going to ride on down below and give the alarm."