There were
already three leaks in it, and the water was beginning to pour over
the upper edge. A member of the 'sluice-committee' was heard to say,
that before two o'clock there would be such a scene as no one had ever
seen the like of, and not a mill would be left in the valley. Two
persons were then _understood_ to be sent off, to give warning to the
people down the valley; but no good account of the proceedings of
these two messengers has ever been given. It appears as if the very
singularity of the dreaded event created a confidence in its not
taking place. By and by, a breach was made in the casing of the
embankment just below the top; the water then got in between the
casing further down, and the puddle or clay which invested the
internal mass, composed of mere rubbish. In half an hour, a great
extent of this case was heaved off by the water, and immediately after
a tremendous breach was made through the embankment, and an aqueous
avalanche poured through. Men then began to run down the valley, to
waken the sleepers, but the water ran faster. In a few minutes, it had
reached the village, two miles and a half distant, carrying with it
nearly everything which came directly in its way. It is said to have
taken nearly twenty minutes to pass that village--a fact which gives a
striking idea of the enormous mass of water concerned.
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