The muddy lakes rose higher, and the steady rain whipped the shining water At last the mountains were hillsides spilled into the streams, built them to freshets, and sent them roaring down the full and the anyons into the valleys. The rain beat on steadily. And the streams and the little rivers edged up to the bank sides and worked at willows and tree roots, bent the willows deep in the current. cut out the roots of cotton-woods and brought down the trees. The muddy water whirled along the bank sides and crept up the banks until at last it spilled over into the fields, into the orchards, into the cotton patches where the black stems stood. Level fields became lakes, broad and gray, and the rain whipped up the surfaces. Then the ater poured over the highways, and cars moved slowly. eutting the water ahead, and leaving a boiling and the streams thundered under the muddy wake behind. The earth whispered under the beat of the rain, churning freshets