The glare of it blinded them; the reverberating explosion that followed
almost immediately well nigh stunned them. It was Ikey, standing in the
tonneau of the car, and pointing a trembling arm toward the dimly
distinguished wall of masonry, whose voice was first heard:

"Look! Look! The dam's broke!"

A balloon-shaped cloud of smoke had risen above the wall of masonry.
Beneath it the dam crumbled, dissolved, and poured away into the bed of
the river like the changing picture in a kaleidoscope.




CHAPTER X

AHEAD OF THE FLOOD


Each one in the little group at the main entrance to the munition
factory had cried out--no doubt of that! Indeed, Torry said afterward
that he forgot to shut his mouth until his jaws were positively stiff.

Their fright did not deprive them of action, however; everybody
immediately did something.

Inside the door, in the hall, hung the bell rope. The bell swung in the
cupola on the roof of the office building. The guard dropped his rifle
and sprang to seize this rope. He slipped his foot in the loop and began
to toll the bell as hard as he could.