As the bells of the steamers tolled the hours the anxiety increased, for with the departure of each hour the river encroached foot by foot. Apprehensive, yet apparently unmindful, of their own danger families piled their furniture on the tables, and then raised the more valuable articles by degrees as the waters rose, hoping that with the receding tide of the early morning the flood would subside. But inch by inch the water rose upon them, until they were forced to forsake their homes and take to the rescue boats, which plied with difficulty, for the current was strong and the piles of debris which came down floated from the town reach across the narrow neck of land and made boating extremely dangerous.
