eight o'clock
Little streams from the hills were washing in turbid currents across the lower levels ; the waste-weir roared as in early spring , the garden was inundated , and the meadow a shallow pond . The sheep had been driven into the upper barn floor : the chickens were in the corn-bin ; and old John and the cows had been transferred from the stable , that stood low , to the weighing floor of the mill . A gloomy echoing and gurgling sounded from the dark wheel-chamber where the water was rushing under the wheel and jarring it with its tumult . At eight o'clock the woodshed was flooded and water began to creep under the kitchen door . Dorothy and the boys carried armfuls of wood and stacked them in the passage to the sitting-room , two steps higher up . At nine o'clock the boys were sent protesting to bed , and Dorothy , looking out of their window as she fumbled about in the dark for a pair of Shep 's trousers that needed mending , saw a lantern flickering up the road . It was Evesham on his way to the mill-dams .