Whole trees were swept
into the barricade. "We cannot now cross diagonally and come back
through the dead water at our leisure, for there is that dam to be
passed. Pull for the old college."
The boat was therefore turned, and thus took the same course that the
girls had taken. The current was at right angles with its advance,
though the houses on the north somewhat broke that force. The roofless
building, ridiculously shortened in its height, had more the look of a
fortress than when it was used as one. The walls had been washed out
above both great entrances, making spacious jagged arches through which
larger craft than theirs could pass. Colonel Menard was quick to see
this; he steered and directed his men accordingly. The Jesuit College
was too well built to crumble on the heads of chance passers, though
the wind and the flood had battered it; to row through it would shorten
their course.
Angelique did not say a word about the changed aspect of her world. A
warmth in the pearly light over the bluffs promised a clear day: and how
Kaskaskia would look with the sun shining on her predicament! The boat
cut through braiding and twisting water, and shot into the college.
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