It was an early summer evening. After her supper, Mrs. Wang had climbed the dike steps, as she did daily, to see how high the river had risen. She was more afraid of the river than of the Japanese. She knew what the river could do. One by one, the villagers had followed her up the dike. They stood staring down at the mischievous yellow water, which was curling along like a lot of snakes and biting at the high dike banks.