Unable to stand quiet and watch the raging waters creep up around the walls of their late home, the Armstrong boys joined the group not far away. Fires had been lighted, and the glow of these added to the weirdness of the scene, as the settlers moved to and fro, comparing notes, trying to find comfort in their mutual troubles, and seizing on the slightest grain of hope afforded by reports that the crest of the rise must surely have come, after which the waters would go down again. "What is Pat O'Mara talking so fiercely about?" asked Bob, as he joined the group, after having been off to see how things were getting on in the direction of the river; and Sandy, who had remained where most of the homeless families had congregated, turned with a frown on his face. "It is about those miserable French trappers," he replied. "But what of them?" persisted Bob; "surely we need not fear their setting fire to our cabin just now; and even Pat, who hates those men so much, could not well accuse them of having turned this water loose." "That is all very true, Bob; but one of the settlers has just mentioned the fact that he felt almost positive he ran across two men, dressed like trappers, who were hurrying away from the settlement. He called out to them, thinking that they might be friends, but they paid no heed to his hail. And, as he got to thinking the matter over, all at once it struck him who they must have been." "When was it that he saw them?" demanded Bob, immediately concerned. "It may have been an hour or so ago; about the time the water was rising around our cabin, and, unable to bear the sight, we came here," Sandy replied. "They are all wondering what could have brought those men here at such a time; and every one seems to think that it must have been the hope of laying their hands on some valuables, while the settlers were given up to excitement." "That looks like it, Sandy," the other replied, quickly. "All have piled up whatever they possess in a heap, not caring where it lies so long as the waters cannot carry it off. But people are there on the watch all the time, and children snuggled down in the midst of the bedclothes; so it doesn't seem as if those men could find much worth carrying off." "Well, Pat is as angry as a bull at sight of a red kerchief," Sandy continued. "You know how he hates and despises everything that is French. He vows that, if he can only get one glimpse of either Jacques or Henri, his rifle will speak; and it seldom does that without something dropping." "Were they leaving the settlement at the time this man saw them?" asked Bob. "That was what he thought," his brother replied. "When he called out, they seemed to hasten their footsteps, as though fearful that he might try to detain them. He says he stood and wondered who they could be, and why they refused to answer his hail. It was only when too late that the truth flashed into his mind." "Well, if they are gone, let us hope it is for good," remarked Bob.