Before and around them, through the inky blackness of the night, came a rush of water which they could not see, but which resounded continuously like the roar of a mob.

They were nevertheless quite alone, as though they had been at the end of the world or beneath the sea.

They never felt so happy, so isolated, as when they found themselves in that timber-stack, in the midst of some such deluge which threatened to carry them away at every moment.

Their bent knees almost reached the opening, and though they thrust themselves back as far as possible, the spray of the rain bathed their cheeks and hands.

The big drops, falling from the planks, splashed at regular intervals at their feet.