"If we could only reach the church!"

Above the waters the church remained standing, with its little square
steeple. We were separated from it by seven houses. Our farmhouse, the first
of the village, adjoined a higher building, which, in turn, leaned against
the next. Perhaps, by way of the roofs, we would be able to reach the
parsonage. A number of people must have taken refuge there already, for the
neighboring roofs were vacant, and we could hear voices that surely came
from the steeple. But what dangers must be run to reach them!

"It is impossible," said Pierre. "The house of the Raimbeaus is too high;
we would need ladders."

"I am going to try it," said Cyprien. "I will return if the way is
impracticable. Otherwise, we will all go and we will have to carry the girls."

I let him go. He was right. We had to try the impossible. He had succeeded,
by the aid of an iron hook fixed in a chimney, in climbing to the next house,
when his wife, Aimee, raising her head, noticed that he was no longer with us.
She screamed:

"Where is he? I don't want him to leave me! We are together, we shall die
together!"

When she saw him on the top of the house she ran over the tiles, still
holding her children. And she called out:

"Cyprien, wait for me! I am going with you. I am going to die with you."