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[17] The next morning, after breakfast, I did a geography lesson and then Mother said I could go downstairs and play in the boat. I rowed once around the down-stairs, avoiding the mess of timbers in the hall where the terrible accident had occurred. The books had begun to sink. I stared down into the dark water and could see nothing. It was right then that I got the idea.
[18] I made a hook from a wire coathanger and carefully fastened it to a weighted line. Then I let it sink and began to drag it slowly back and forth. I spent the next hour or so moving the boat and dragging my line--hoping to find pieces of my mother's lost treasure. But time after time the line came up empty.
[19] As the water rose day after day, I continued trying to recover some remnant of my mother's broken china. Soon, however, the water inside had risen to the stairway landing. On the day water covered the gutters outside, my father decided we would have to seek shelter in the tents on the hill. A powerboat was to pick us up that afternoon. We would leave by the porch roof.
[20] I spent the morning hurriedly securing things in my room. Then I got into my rowboat for the last time. I dragged my line through the water. Nothing. After some time I heard my parents calling, so I headed back toward the stairway. Just as I made the last turn, I snagged something.
[21] Holding my breath, I slowly raised my catch to the surface. As the dark water drained from it, I could make out the bright roses and gold leaf design. It seemed dazzling to me. I had found the gravy boat from my mother's china service. My line had caught on a small chip in the lip.
[22] My father called down to me again. "This is serious business," he said. "Let's go." So I stowed the treasure in my jacket and rowed as fast as I could to the stair landing.
第二天上午吃過早餐，我做完地理功課，媽媽說我可以下樓到船上去玩了。我在樓下劃了一圈，繞開門廳頭天晚上掉下來的亂七八糟的木料。水面上的書籍已經(jīng)開始下沉。我盯著黑漆漆的水往下瞧，什么也看不見，就在這個時候我計上心來。
我用金屬衣架做了一個鉤子，小心翼翼地把它系到一根加重的繩子上。接著我將它沉入水中，開始緩慢地來回拖動。我花了大約一個小時，劃船，拖繩----希望能夠找到媽媽失去的那套珍貴的瓷器。但一次又一次，繩子拉上來，空無一物。
河水日復一日地漲個不停，我繼續(xù)嘗試著去找回媽媽的哪怕是一些已經(jīng)破損的瓷器的殘片。可是不多時，樓下的河水已漲到了樓梯平臺上。河水淹上房外檐槽的那一天，爸爸決定，我們必須到山上的帳篷里尋求庇護了。當天下午有一艘汽艇來接我們，我們將從前廊的屋頂上撤離。
我上午匆匆忙忙地將我房間里的東西捆牢。然后我跳上劃艇準備作最后一次努力。我把繩子拖過水面。什么也沒有。過了一會兒，聽到爸媽在叫，我只好朝著樓梯的方向往回劃。就在我轉(zhuǎn)最后一個彎時，我鉤住了什么東西。
我屏住呼吸，慢慢地將打撈到的物品拉上水面。它剛一浮出黑色的河水，我就辨認出鮮亮的玫瑰以及金色的花瓣圖案。我感到一陣暈眩。我竟然找到了媽媽那套瓷器中的這只船形肉鹵盤。我的繩子剛好掛住了這只瓷盤邊上的一個小缺口。
爸爸又在朝下喊我。“這可不是鬧著玩的，”他說。“咱們快走。”我便把這件寶物藏在上衣里，盡快地朝樓梯平臺劃過去。
