02 Jo of the Chalet School (26 page)

the gentle was roused.

Flinging down his baton he clenched his fists and hammered on the music desk, effectually awaking their interest at once. ‘This is terrible!’ he shouted. ‘Nay, more! It is blasphemous! You debase the divine Apollo! You wrong the celestial Euterpe! It is not to be borne!’

The middles looked at him with gasping surprise-not at his invocation of Apollo and Euterpe. They knew all that he could teach them about those divinities by this time. No: what startled them was his anger.

During the whole of the two terms during which he had taken them for singing they had never once seen him in a temper, and had, indeed, decided that he didn’t possess one. Now, with his eyes blazing, the colour coming and going in his cheeks, and his lips set in a thin, hard line, they suddenly realised that ‘Plato’ was, for once, in a thorough-paced rage, and that they must be careful.

For a moment no one quite knew what to say. Then, suddenly, the decision was taken out of their hands.

A vivid flash of lightning leapt across the sky, tearing the sullen greyness apart; there was an awful silence; then a terrific crash of thunder, and at the same moment the rain came.

‘Plato’s’ wild outburst had brought Miss Bettany from her study, where she had been lifting books from the low shelves that ran round the room and putting them into a cupboard, where she hoped they would be safe from the water should it come. She never got any very clear idea of what had happened to upset the master, for the suddenness and awfulness of the storm brought ‘Plato’ to his senses. He was thoroughly ashamed of having lost his temper; and when Miss Bettany, shouting to be heard above the noise of the rain and the thunder, asked what had happened, he stammered out something about ‘the little maidens are excited-upset by the approach of the storm.’

He got no further, for Simone flung herself on the young head-mistress, crying hysterically, ‘Oh, is it the flood? Is it the flood?’

Madge shook the child. ‘Stop crying
at once
, Simone!’ she thundered. And Simone promptly stopped.

‘Plato’ had heard this question in open-mouthed amazement. ‘But, Sweeting,’ he cried, ‘There will not be a flood as in the days of Noah! There cannot be! Our dear Lord has given us His promise!’

Madge’s eyes dared the girls to laugh, while she explained rapidly what they feared. ‘Plato’s’ face was grave when she had finished. ‘I must go at once, Madame. My sister is at the hotel, an dit stands even lower than the Kronprinz Karl, for it lies in the little dip near the fence. If, in truth, there is danger of the flood here, how much more there!’

‘Bring your sister here,’ suggested the young head-mistress. ‘It will be safer, and, if there
should
be a flood, we might need a man.’

He bowed sweepingly to her. ‘You are kind, Madame. We will come with pleasure. My dearest Sarah has a great dread of water, and she will be happier here with you. I go; I will return swiftly.’

He made another flourishing bow, and then dashed out of the house, scarcely waiting to fling his coat over his shoulders. They saw him crossing the enclosure with great bounding steps before he was lost in the grey mist of rain that beat down as thought he skies were attempting to swamp the earth.

Miss Bettany no longer doubted that the torrent would flood-it most certainly would. But she hoped that the fact of the Chalet being rased above the rest of that part of the valley would tell in its favour and save them. There was quite a deep dip between them and the river, and this would help to carry off some of the waters.

‘Will the whole valley be flooded?’ demanded Jo suddenly.

‘No; I don’t expect it for an instant. I think the river will overflow its banks a little, but I don’t’ suppose it goes much farther than just the pasture round,’ replied Madge.-‘Put those desks straight, girls. Take out all your books and carry them to the stationery cupboard. I don’t suppose the flood will touch us, but we’ll run no risks.’

She hurried off to give the same commands to the other girls, and for the next hour they were busy packing away all spoilable things, while the mistresses, Marie, and Eigen provisioned the dormitories as if they expected a siege of weeks. If only it had once stopped raining, Madge would have rushed the girls along to Seespitz. But she dared not risk it in that awful downpour, and it continued all the afternoon and evening in a steady, relentless torrent.

‘Plato’ duly returned with his sister, who, rejoicing in the same of ‘Sarah,’ had been christened ‘Sally-go-round-the-moon,’ by naughty Jo-‘Sally’ for short. Sally was short, sturdy, and plain, with a pair of twinkling brown eyes, which went fair to reconciling the girls to her lack of beauty. Usually she was most matter-of-fact and full of common-sense. But her brother’s remark that she was terrified of water was no more than true. The twinkle had faded out of her eyes, and she was very white and shaking when she entered the Head’s study.

‘My dear, I can’t thank you enough!’ she jerked out. ‘I am a perfect fool where anything in the nature of a flood or running water is concerned. Tristan will tell you that never once have I ventured on the lake, though we have been here six months. I simply dare not. Even crossing by the Dover-Calais route was agony to me! I can’t tell you the relief it is to be here!’

‘But I question if there will be a flood,’ put in her brother.-How the middles would have gloated if they had known his Christian name!-‘The river appeared to me to be lower than it was. Mayhap the snow has ceased to melt, or the water has found another outlet.’

‘I hope so, indeed,’ said Madge absently. She was privately wondering what parents could be like who had named one child ‘Sarah’ and another ‘Tristan.’

However, there was little time for thinking. She left her guests to themselves in the study and went off to superintend matters. Later on Miss Denny made herself useful by helping to put the juniors to bed; while her brother moved desks and heavy furniture, and carried loads of fuel upstairs in case it should be needed.

By eleven o’clock at night everything was finished, and the girls were all safely in bed and sound asleep.

Before she went up to her own room, where Joey and the Robin were already tucked in, Miss Bettany opened the jalousies at the study window and looked out. The rain had ceased to fall, and the full-moon was struggling out from behind the ragged clouds that were chasing each other across the sky. The wind was rising, and howling in melancholy fashion among the black pine-woods at the back of the house. In the distance the steady roar of the torrent could be heard, and Madge noted that the sound seemed less than it had been early in the day. Clearly the river was falling, and therefore the danger was past. A heavy ‘pad-pad’ of feet behind startled her as she leaned against the window looking out, and she turned swiftly, to find Zita beside her, looking at her with anxious eyes.

‘How you startled me, Zita!’ she said, with a little laugh at her own silliness. ‘Poor old thing! What is the matter with you? And where is Rufus?’

Zita whined softly. Her dog instinct had sensed coming danger, and she was doing her best to warn her young mistress. How she wished human beings could understand whines and mournful looks!

Madge closed the jalousies again, glanced round the room to see that everything was right, and then went out, switching off the light, and followed by Zita, who kept closely to her. The Head bolted the front door and locked it safely. Mademoiselle had made the round of the form-rooms earlier in the evening, and made sure that all the windows were shut and the jalousies fastened, so Miss Bettany left them alone, and went to the kitchen to take Zita to her own quarters. At the door she paused. She didn’t’ think there was any likelihood of a flood now; still, perhaps, the two dogs would be happier on one of the upper landings. She went into the kitchen, called Rufus, who was curled up in a huge woolly ball, and went upstairs, accompanied by both animals. In her own room Joey and the Robin lay together in her bed profoundly asleep. Anxious not to wake them, Madge opened the jalousies of her window and began to undress by moonlight. It was a glorious night after the storm. It was a glorious night after the storm. The clouds were vanishing, and the dark lake reflected the light of the moon in its tumbled waters. Standing in a short princess petticoat, mage opened the window and leaned out, revelling in the beauty that lay round her.

Suddenly the expression of her face changed as a dull, thundering sound came to her. Louder and louder it grew. The dogs outside began to bay loudly; there were startled cries from the wakening girls. But Madge Bettany paid no heed to these. Her eyes were turned toward the valley where, coming with a swift, relentless sweep, a wall of water, fully six feet high, raced across the pasturage to the lake.

In a flash she realised what had happened. The torrent had been choked somewhere up in the mountains.

This accounted for the river’s falling. Then the barrier, whatever it was, had given way, and the great mass of the water had been literally hurled down to the valley below.

Even as the thought passed through her mind the wall broke around the Kronprinz Karl, which for a few moments was smothered in the foam. Then it raced, lower, but still horrible to watch, right across the valley to the Chalet.

There was a minor crash as it encountered the six-foot fence. Btu it was not to be expected that anything so light should prove a barrier, and the next second it broke round them, and the Chalet groaned and shuddered under the force of the blow. It all happened so quickly, that to Madge it seemed as if no time had elapsed between the moment when she had first seen that horrible grey, white-crested wall of water rushing down the valley and the moment when it broke against the school. The horror of it stunned her for a moment.

Then a voice from the bed roused her:

‘The foot had scarcely time to flee

Before it brake against the knee

And all the world was in the sea.

‘Is
is
the flood, isn’t it? I saw!
That
was a whanger!’

‘Stay where you are, Joey,’ cried her sister as she hurriedly pulled her dressing-gown round her. ‘I’m going down to the others.-It’s all right, Robin, darling!’ as the baby turned a scared white face to hers. ‘Joey will stay with you, and I will come back soon.’ Then she vanished, and the two little girls were left alone together.

Joey’s first action was to tumble out of bed and race over to the window. She gasped at the sight she saw.

All round there was nothing but water, which seemed to becoming momentarily deeper. Already it was well up to the first sash of the ground-floor windows, and it seemed to be rising in surges.

After the first two or three washes there were no more waves; but it was quite alarming enough to see the water rising, creeping foot by foot up the side of the house. Joey could see the Kronprinz Karl, which, as it stood at a much lower level, was heavily awash to the first-floor windows. From downstairs came cries and sobs. Then there was the patter of feet as the girls climbed up to the next storey, and she could hear Evadne’s voice proclaiming, ‘Say! Reckon this is just like home-like when the Mississippi busts his banks!

We ought to climb on to the roof, I reckon!’

‘No, thank you!’ It was Miss Maynard who spoke. ‘Things are quite exciting enough as it is! You’ll stay down here, Evadne, if you please.’

The door opened, and Madge came in. ‘Get up and dress,’ she said quietly. ‘Joey, you must help the Robin. I must go to Miss Denny.’

‘I wish Dr Jem were here!’ sighed Jo. ‘I can’t think why he should be at Innsbruck just when we need him most!’

‘Be quick, child,’ said her sister gently. ‘Help Robin, and dress yourself.’

‘But
don’t
you wish he was here, Madge?’ persisted Joey as she began to put on the Robin’s stockings.

Madge blushed, and shook her head. ‘I must go,’ she said; and left them to dress.

When they were ready, Jo looked out of the window once more. The water was up to the top of the ground-floor windows, but, as far as she could tell, was not rising now. The trouble lay in the fact of the narrowness of the valley, and the unusual fullness of the lake. It would drain off by way of the Tiern; but it looked like being a fairly long business.

‘
What
a mess things will be in downstairs!’ observed Jo with conviction as she drew her head in. ‘I should think the place will be about knee-deep in mud. It’ll take weeks to clean!’

Zita, who was near her, pushed a big sable head under her arm in search of petting. The dog knew that things were not right, and she was frightened. Joey stood pulling her ears absently, while the Robin hugged Rufus, who had followed his mother into the room. Here Miss Bettany found them, when she came along later to bring them some hot cocoa and biscuits, and to see that all was well with them.

‘I’m sending Juliet up with Simone and Frieda,’ said the Head. ‘You are to stay here until I send for you.

The others are quite safe with Miss Maynard and Miss Durrant to look after them, and Mademoiselle is taking care of Miss Denny, who isn’t well. There isn’t room for everyone in the other rooms, so I want you to stay here. I shall be in and out all the time, and you are quite safe. They will be bringing the boats along presently; and then you shall all go to Seespitz until the waters go down again.’

And
that
won’t be long,’ remarked Joey, who was hanging out of the window once more. ‘I b’lieve it’s going down already. Look, Madge!’

Madge came and looked. ‘I believe you are right, Joey,’ she said. ‘It would drain away fairly quickly, of course; and the wind will help it.’

‘What about Le Petit Chalet?’ asked Joey.

‘Well, it isn’t on the same level, of course, and it’s a much lower house; but I don’t think it has really suffered much more than this,’ replied Madge. ‘Now I must go.’

‘
Must
we stay here?’ pleaded Joey, catching at her sister’s arm.