There was water everywhere. The frightened Cave-men ran for the hills. They climbed trees, where they stayed through the long dark night. When the rays of the sun streaked the sky in the east, the Cave-men were still up in the trees. They looked out over the valley, but they scarcely knew the place. All the land except the hills was covered by the flood. All the thickets had disappeared. [Illustration: _The Flood_] Only the tops of the trees stood above the water. The river was dammed with snow and ice. The water dashed against the dam, but it could not break its way through. It was forced back; it was overflowing the banks; it was flooding the land. Nobody had breakfast that morning. Nobody had a mouthful to eat all that day. All the Cave-men watched the flood from the trees. They heard the ice when it began to crack. They heard the roaring of the river as it beat upon the dam. They knew that it was wearing its way through. About midday there was a loud crash. The Cave-men then knew that the dam was broken. They saw the water pour through the dam and sweep everything in its path. Before sunset the flood was gone. Most of the ice and snow had been swept away. The Cave-men were glad to come down from the trees, and they hurried to see what had happened to their cave. [Illustration] THINGS TO DO _Notice a river or brook after a heavy rain or the melting of the snow._ _See if you can tell where the current of the river is._ _Notice the difference in the current in the wide and narrow parts of the river._ _Find the parts of the valley that would be flooded if the river overflowed its banks._ _Notice the little holes that are made in the ground by the rain._ _See if you can find a ravine made by the rain._ _Model a small river valley showing some of the work of the rain._ _Change the little pot-holes so as to make them into caves._ _Change the caves so as to make them into ravines._ _Change a ravine so as to make a valley._ _Tell a story of how a pot-hole became a valley._ _Show in your sand box the way the cave was flooded._ XVI THINGS TO THINK ABOUT Do you think that the Cave-men can live in their cave when they go back? What do you think they lost in the flood? What did the Cave-men prize most of all? Can you tell why they thought the fire was alive? _What the Cave-men Lost in the Flood_ The Cave-men were anxious about their home, so they hastened to the cave. Their bare feet left clear tracks in the layer of fine mud. But they were too anxious about the fire to think of such things as tracks in the mud. They did not know much about the fire or the flood, but they thought that they both were alive. They feared that the fire had been driven away. Yet they hoped to find a few live coals that they could kindle into a flame.