I'm thinkin' we'll lowse them a' else; for the byre wa's 'ill gang afore the hoose." Mr.Duff broke into a strange laughter.
"Wad ye no tak up the carpets first, wuman ?" he said.
"I wad," she answered; "that gangs ohn speirt--gien there was time; but I tell ye there's nane; an' ye'll buy twa or three carpets for the price o' ae horse." "Haith! the wuman's i' the richt," he cried, suddenly waking up to the sense of the proposal, and shot from the house.
All the women, Jean making no exception to any help now, rushed to carry the beds and blankets to the garret.
Just as Mr.Duff entered the stable from the nearer end, the opposite gable fell out with a great splash, letting in the wide level vision of turbidly raging waters, fading into the obscurity of the wind-driven rain.

While he stared aghast, a great tree struck the wall like a battering-ram, so that the stable shook.

The horses, which had been for some time moving uneasily, were now quite scared.

There was not a moment to be lost.

Duff shouted for his men; one or two came running; and in less than a minute more those in the house heard the iron-shod feet splashing and stamping through the water, as, one after another, the horses were brought across the yard to the door of the house.