CHAPTER IX

THE START OF A BAD NIGHT


Without noise, leaving barely a ripple behind, that head sank
from view. It had vanished in an instant before the eyes of the
two thoroughly startled high school boys.

"He's drowning now!" gasped Dan, as the head failed to bob up
again into view. "Oh, Tom, we must save him!"

"Wait!" said Reade, in a quivering voice. His eyes expressed
uncertainty as to how he should act.

"But he's drowning. You see, he hasn't come up again!" Dalzell
insisted.

"Drowning---in water shallow enough for small bushes to grow from
the bottom?" demanded Reade. "Of course not! But what does it
mean---and why didn't the fellow speak?"

"Perhaps---i---i---it was a---dead man," suggested Dalzell.

"That's what I'm trying to figure out," replied Reade. "I---I
almost thought I saw the man's eyelids move."