It was not long before I managed to drain off this
threatening flood, by opening the old sluice-hole;
but I had much harder work to keep the stables, and
the cow-house, and the other sheds, from flooding.
For we have a sapient practice (and I never saw the
contrary round about our parts, I mean), of keeping
all rooms underground, so that you step down to them.
We say that thus we keep them warmer, both for cattle
and for men, in the time of winter, and cooler in
the summer-time. This I will not contradict,
though having my own opinion; but it seems to me to
be a relic of the time when people in the western
countries lived in caves beneath the ground, and blocked
the mouths with neat-skins.
Let that question still abide, for men who study ancient
times to inform me, if they will; all I know is, that
now we had no blessings for the system. If after
all their cold and starving, our weak cattle now should
have to stand up to their knees in water, it would
be certain death to them; and we had lost enough already
to make us poor for a long time; not to speak of our
kind love for them. And I do assure you, I loved
some horses, and even some cows for that matter, as
if they had been my blood-relations; knowing as I
did their virtues. And some of these were lost
to us; and I could not bear to think of them.
Therefore I worked hard all night to try and save
the rest of them.
CHAPTER XLVI
SQUIRE FAGGUS MAKES SOME LUCKY HITS
[Illustration: 397.jpg Illustrated Capital]
Through that season of bitter frost the red deer of
the forest, having nothing to feed upon, and no shelter
to rest in, had grown accustomed to our ricks of corn,
and hay, and clover. There we might see a hundred
of them almost any morning, come for warmth, and food,
and comfort, and scarce willing to move away.
And many of them were so tame, that they quietly presented
themselves at our back door, and stood there with
their coats quite stiff, and their flanks drawn in
and panting, and icicles sometimes on their chins,
and their great eyes fastened wistfully upon any merciful
person; craving for a bit of food, and a drink of
water; I suppose that they had not sense enough to
chew the snow and melt it; at any rate, all the springs
being frozen, and rivers hidden out of sight, these
poor things suffered even more from thirst than they
did from hunger.
But now there was no fear of thirst, and more chance
indeed of drowning; for a heavy gale of wind arose,
with violent rain from the south-west, which lasted
almost without a pause for three nights and two days.
At first the rain made no impression on the bulk of
snow, but ran from every sloping surface and froze
on every flat one, through the coldness of the earth;
and so it became impossible for any man to keep his
legs without the help of a shodden staff. After
a good while, however, the air growing very much warmer,
