"Look!" he said. "Help me--hold me tight!"

He had a pole and be was watching an enormous black object that was gently
drifting toward the house. It was the roof of a shed, made of strong boards,
and that was floating like a raft. When it was within reach he stopped it with
the pole, and, as he felt himself being carried off, he called to us. We held
him around the waist.

Then, as the mass entered the current, it returned against our roof so
violently
that we were afraid of seeing it smashed into splinters.

Gaspard jumped upon it boldly. He went over it carefully, to assure himself of
its solidity. He laughed, saying joyously:

"Grandfather, we are saved! Don't cry any more, you women. A real boat! Look,
my feet are dry. And it will easily carry all of us!"

Still, he thought it well to make it more solid. He caught some floating beams
and bound them to it with a rope that Pierre had brought up for an emergency.
Gaspard even fell into the water, but at our screams he laughed. He knew the
water well; he could swim three miles in the Garonne at a stretch. Getting up
again, he shook himself, crying:

"Come, get on it! Don't lose any time!"

The women were on their knees. Gaspard had to carry Veronique and Marie to
the middle of the raft, where he made them sit down.