for the collapsible dinghy with him and for two to three it is sent down the line to the head of the island & then waits for the near of the lake. After this acts as messenger & assures me that everyone is still with us! we are tied up in a row along the bank but the place is not too good & rather exposed. I had just time after we tied up to slay together the rafts receiving set & get time signals & churchhold's announcement that he was on the "Ronald S." and on the way up the river already. He will tell us his position each evening. Wednesday Aug. 5 A tremendous flood came down river last night, the stream rising steadily for near twenty feet and increasing so in velocity that we feared greatly for our morning lives. One line did part one on the boys' rafts but she swung by a tail line & was re-seeked. Last night or again this morning many hundreds of fruit bats flew over us. This morning about 10 when the river was practically at high & had overflowed the ground level of the island a pair of huge flying trees one led on, the other crosswise came around the corner and crashed through the small fringe tree into which each raft had but adjusted its way stuck between Willis's & Healy's rafts, and sticking the raft of Brown a flood that knocked it rather askew, carried off Willis's raft into the stream. An attempt was made to get a rope out to him but the boy who caught it could not hold it. So Willis with 3 boys on board & the dog stuck disappeared around the bend. Healy's float was driven sideways among the saplings of brush. Brown's was smashed hard against mine. There was nothing we could do to help Willis more than send a boy with a rope in the dinghy after him. That will give him a crew of four. We were pretty busy ourselves repairing snapped lines & separating the rafts which had become jammed together. Doubtless he pulled into the place at the first chance and repaired the damage! The river is falling now (3:45 p.m.) plus one down almost 2 feet. By 5 o'clock the water was down to the level of the island & continued falling rapidly. We had to be constantly on the watch as six rafts stranded. I heard Juliette at 6. They expect much rainfall tonight--almost certain tomorrow.