"And the barn and henhouse are nearer the pond than the house even!" Bert remarked. "It would be an awful loss for a poor man."
"Let's go up in the attic and see how high the pond is," Harry suggested.
From the top of the house the boys could see across the high pond bank into the water.
"My!" Bert exclaimed; "isn't it awful!"
"Yes, it is," Harry replied. "You see, all the streams from the mountains wash into this pond, and in a big storm like this it gets very dangerous."
"Why do they build houses in such dangerous places?" asked Bert.
"Oh, you see, that house of Burns' has stood there maybe one hundred years—long before any dam was put in the pond to work the sawmill," said Harry.
"Oh, that's it—is it?" Bert replied. "I thought it was queer to put houses right in line with a dam."
"See how strong the water is getting," went on Harry. "Look at that big log floating down."
"It will be fun when it stops raining," remarked Bert. "We can sail things almost anywhere."