"This lake which you now see," said Mrs. Roberts, "was not here yesterday when we came. There's a depth of thirty or forty feet all around us; it shoals somewhat over toward the side where you came, but there is depth enough all around for anybody to swim. We came down into the valley yesterday, thinking we would cross over to the opposite side and then turn back again, just about making the length of our day's excursion. This island that we are now on is a hill in the midst of the valley—or was so yesterday.
"When we got to the other side of the valley, and were turning back, the rain came on. We had noticed a thunder-cloud off in the west, but didn't think it would amount to much. Five minutes before the rain came on us the sky was clear overhead, or at least partially so. The first outburst was tremendous, and drenched us completely. I suggested that we should take shelter among the trees on this hill, and so we rode our horses up here and got the best shelter we could.
"The rain kept on coming, fiercer and fiercer, for an hour or more; then it slackened somewhat, but only for a little while. All around us we could see patches of water covering the ground, but nothing at all like what there is here now.
"By and by the rain ceased entirely, the clouds seemed to blow away, and the sun struggled to make its appearance; but away among the hills to the west we could see that the clouds were very dense and hanging close to the ground. We had observed that condition of affairs some time before the rain came upon us, and remarked that they were having quite a storm over there, fifteen or twenty miles away.
"We were just getting ready to start back for our camp when we heard a rushing, roaring sound, somewhere up the valley. It was more like the sound of a railway-train than anything else I can describe, and certainly a very unusual sound in a country where there are no railways at all.
"We stood and looked in that direction, wondering what was coming; and before long we found out!
"A wall of water, ten or fifteen feet high, came pouring down and filling the whole valley. On and on it came, rushing like a torrent, and filling up all the space around us. Our hill became an island, with a depth of water around it enough to float a small steamboat!"
"Were there any wild animals caught in the flood and brought down by it?" queried Jack.
"Yes," said Mrs. Roberts, "there were a goodly number. There were several buffaloes, two or three elephants, and there were antelopes, elands, leopards, and I don't know what else. Come around here and I'll show you what came to us. The most of the animals were driven past us by the flood, and some made the shore and escaped; some, I am sure, were drowned, and a few took to our island for safety."
By this time they were at the other side of the island, and a sight was revealed which made Jack's eyes bulge out with astonishment. A leopard, a lion, and a boa-constrictor had taken refuge upon the little island where the ladies were! Miss Boland said that neither the leopard nor the lion manifested any hostility toward them, being so overcome with fear. "They were terribly frightened," said she, "and very much exhausted by their efforts at swimming. They came on the island almost together, and lay down where you see them without appearing to recognize each other's existence."