noon
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 . The light glimmered on his oilskin coat as he climbed the stile behind the well-curb . `` He raised the flood-gates at noon , '' Dorothy said to herself . `` I wonder if he is anxious about the dams . '' She resolved to watch for his return , but she was busy settling her mother for the night when she heard his footsteps on the porch . The roar of water from the hills startled Dorothy as she opened the door ; it had increased in violence within an hour .