But the master would be
there, and Truffey would not be absent. When Mr Malison came, Truffey
was standing in the rain waiting for him. Not another boy was there. He
sent him home. And Truffey went back to the bridge over the Glamour,
and there stood watching the awful river.
Mr Malison sped away westward towards the Wan Water. On his way he
found many groups of the inhabitants going in the same direction. The
bed of the Wan Water was here considerably higher than that of the
Glamour, although by a rapid descent it reached the same level a couple
of miles below the town. But its waters had never, to the knowledge of
any of the inhabitants, risen so high as to surmount the ridge on the
other slope of which the town was built. Consequently they had never
invaded the streets. But now people said the Wan Water would be down
upon them in the course of an hour or two, when Glamerton would be in
the heart of a torrent, for the two rivers would be one. So instead of
going to school, all the boys had gone to look, and the master followed
them. Nor was the fear without foundation; for the stream was still
rising, and a foot more would overtop the ground between it and the
Glamour.
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