On the fourth day they left the course of the river, moving south-east again but now striking inland. By midday they reached the edge of the frozen plain where it rose on their right to higher ground. Tree-tops broke the surface of the snow here and there, although their upper leaves and branches were so powdered that they were only recognisable from close quarters, and now and then they saw the upper storeys of houses that were still standing. An hour later, having crossed a spur, they were in the valley of the River Medway, the lower part of which had been flooded to the same level as the Thames.
Snow started to fall at half-past three, but as Gervaise was anxious to make Rochester or Chatham that night they pressed on through it for another hour and a half and were rewarded at last by the sight of Rochester Castle. Bishop Odo's great Norman tower had survived the deluge, but its upper sections were all that stood out above the plain of snow; the city below it was entirely buried,
Gervaise had thought that would probably be the case, but as it was now four days since they had known the joy of a fire he had hoped that if Rochester Castle had not been overthrown they might get inside it and spend the night in greater comfort than on the open plain. Unfortunately, his plan proved impracticable because the entrances to the castle were deep under the ice and its arrow-slit windows much too narrow for them to get through. But they were able to pitch camp under the lee of the great keep, which protected them from the wind, and had the satisfaction of knowing that they had made a record by covering ten miles since the morning.
They were now on the Dover Road, or rather, from eighty to a hundred feet above it, and their next concern was to advance south-east again until the road rose out of the icepack, so that they could identify and follow it. Next morning, passing over submerged Chatham, from which the ground rose steeply to their right, they pushed on in the direction of Sitting-bourne. It was not until reaching Rainham that they found the road and although they had covered only five miles as the crow flies, having spent a considerable time that day zigzagging across the now uneven country trying to locate the highway, they decided to halt there for the night.
The buildings in the village were almost buried, but picking a fair-sized house, they climbed into a servant's bedroom through a broken window in its top storey. The room was two feet deep in snow that had drifted in but the landing was clear, and lighting some candles they proceeded downstairs. It was an eerie experience to descend into the bowels of the buried house and on entering a first-floor bedroom, the door of which stood open, they came upon a group of frozen corpses.
The bloated, partially decayed faces seemed to take on a horrid life when glimpsed only by the light of guttering candles. Margery screamed and fled in terror to the pale daylight of the top storey. Sam followed to quiet and comfort her. The others wrenched-to the door, shutting in the dead occupants of their new refuge, and went down to the ground floor.
Having smashed up some of the lighter furniture they took it upstairs and got a brazier going in another bedroom, at the back of the house, into which comparatively little snow had drifted. The warmth of the fire cheered them and the prospect of finding innumerable other such houses in which they could shelter, now that they had passed out of the great ice-plain, aave them fresh confidence in the eventual success of their mad journey.
After cooking a meal they explored the house, but there was little in it of any value to them. Two tins of pork-and-beans, a few candles, and half a bottle of methylated spirit which would come in handy for the primus, were all the place yielded.
On the sixth day they were able to follow the road; but only with some difficulty. The houses along it were the best indication of its position, but in the places where it passed through open country these were comparatively few and far between. In such stretches the road was no more than a very shallow depression which at times disappeared altogether, merging into the slopes of the hillsides, when their only guide was the top of an occasional telegraph pole which had been left standing. By comparison the great plain of the flooded river-valley had been easy going, as that had at least been level, whereas they now had to drag the sledge up steep inclines whenever the road wound over a hill. Although they had only done six miles it was late in the afternoon when they reached the outskirts of Sittingbourne and chose a roof-top which looked as though it had once sheltered a prosperous family under which to spend the night.
They selected a big playroom under the eaves in which to light their fires and, on exploring the depths of the house, had the good fortune to discover that, in addition to quite a considerable stock of tinned goods which a careful housewife had laid in, it contained a well-chosen cellar of wines. That night they all got very jolly and slept like tops after partaking liberally of some excellent mulled claret which Gervaise made for them.
Their happening upon such well-equipped quarters proved particularly fortunate because when they woke the next morning a blizzard was raging and Gervaise decided that it was quite impossible for them to proceed further until it had ceased. Ever since leaving London their luck with the weather had held and on only two occasions had they had to press on through snow for the last hour or so before halting for the night. But the driven flakes which obscured everything more than ten feet distant from the broken upper windows of the house showed them the sort of peril which they might have to face if they were caught in a storm later on their journey.
Bathing was out of the question and they had long since given up worrying themselves about the lack of such an amenity; but they boiled some kettles of water over their braziers, and the men were able to rid themselves of their seven days' growth of beard while the girls washed their hair and generally made themselves a little more presentable.
As there was nothing to do except feed the fires, Derek amused himself by setting out a fine collection of toy soldiers which he found in a cupboard in the playroom. Having thawed out the ice-logged boxes of troops, guns and wagons he arranged them all and was as delighted as a child while crawling round the floor to play at battles.
Lavina soon got bored with helping him as she was not particularly interested in soldiers and she did not care for crawling about on her hands and knees on the board floor which, although thawed out by the fire, was still damp; so she suggested to Hemmingway that they should have another look round the house together.
Taking candles with them they descended to the ground floor and spent a little time exploring the rooms; but the jumbled furniture was frozen too hard where it lay for them to move it without effort, and trying to wrench open cupboards was difficult as long as they kept their thick gloves on and chilly work if they took them off. When they reached a small library which had a couple of armchairs in it Lavina proposed that they should sit down and talk instead of exploring further.
To anyone not fully acquainted with their circumstances it would have seemed a mad idea to think of sitting in the cold down there when they could equally well have sat upstairs in the warmth of the braziers, but Hemmingway did not consider her suggestion at all strange. For many days now the whole party had been compelled to remain together, and from necessity the conversation had been entirely general. Every topic that could be discussed with interest by all concerned had long ago been exhausted and they were beginning to find the repetitions of each other's opening gambits or the long silences which often occurred among them equally nerve-racking. For two of them to get away from the rest for a little was almost an adventure and, although the chairs were frozen hard and the temperature of the room was well below zero, they were not cold because they were muffled to the eyes in their thick furs.