'Something's wrong outside.'
He went and returned breathlessly.
'I say! It's just as I thought.'
'Is it the corn?'
'No, that hasn't suffered much, but the dam is broken.'
'Jesus! Jesus!'
'The water is up to our yard. Those scoundrel Swabians have dammed up their fields, and that has taken some more off the hill.'
'Curse them!'
'Have you looked into the stable?' asked Maciek.
'Is it likely I shouldn't? There's water in the stable, water in the cowshed, look! even the passage is flooded; but the rain is stopping, we must bale out.'