To their immense alarm, the opened door revealed the figure of—“the man with the limp!”
CHAPTER XVIII
THE DRAGON GIVES UP THE SECRET
THE man also started back at the sight of all four of them together. And Rags, who had been drying himself quietly by the fire, rose with a snarl and leaped toward his enemy of the earlier part of the evening.
“Heavens! don’t let that animal loose on me again!” cried the man, backing off. “I’ve just been down to the village doctor and had my arm cauterized, as it is. I stopped in to tell you something you’d better know. Probably you haven’t noticed it, if you haven’t looked out recently. The water is rising rapidly and will soon be very nearly up to your bungalow. You may want to get out before it sweeps under it!”
With a cry of alarm, they all leaped toward the door, Ted grasping Rags firmly by the collar. It was even as the man had said. Peering through the darkness, they could see the water spreading inward from a recent breaker, only about twenty-five feet from the veranda. And the next breaker spread in even a few inches further.
“What shall we do?” cried Leslie. “Aunt Marcia will be frightened to death if she knows it, and how I’m to get her out of here in this howling storm, or where I can take her, I can’t imagine!”
But Ted had been critically examining the weather. “Don’t worry, Leslie!” he soothed her. “The wind is shifting. I noticed just now that it seemed to be around to the north and is getting farther west also. That means the storm is almost over. And the tide ought to turn in ten minutes or so. It’s practically at its highest now. Ten chances to one it won’t rise more than a foot or two further. But we’ll keep watch, and if it does, we’ll get your aunt out of here in Eileen’s car, which is just down the road, and take her either to our place or to the village. Our bungalow isn’t likely to be damaged, as it’s farther up the dune than these. Don’t worry!”