noon
The wind was whistling down the gorges , and the clouds hung among the pine woods which still clothed the upper slopes of the hills , and the diggers , as they turned out one morning , looked up apprehensively . `` But it could not be , '' they assured each other . Everyone knew that the rains were not due for another month yet ; it could only be a passing shower if it rained at all . But as the morning went on , men came in from camps higher up the river , and reports were current that it had been raining for the last two days among the upper hills ; while those who took the trouble to walk across to the new channel could see for themselves at noon that it was filled very nigh to the brim , the water rushing along with thick and turbid current . But those who repeated the rumors , or who reported that the channel was full , were summarily put down . Men would not believe that such a calamity as a flood and the destruction of all their season 's work could be impending . There had been some showers , no doubt , as there had often been before , but it was ridiculous to talk of anything like rain a month before its time .