Piercing shrieks greeted their appearance, followed quickly by the din and confusion of a panic. The terrified boys brushed the water from their eyes and gazed in trembling awe at the havoc of which they had been the innocent cause.
They saw Dr. Mossman pulled down by a pack of frenzied women who trampled him underfoot as if he had been a doormat, and then fought, tore, scratched and screamed their way to the door.
Gizzard was the first to speak.
"What is it?" he asked in a voice husky with terror. "S'pose the church is on fire?"
Sube's teeth chattered violently as he shook his head and managed to say, "I don't know; but I guess we better be gettin' out of here!"
They had ascended the little steps before they realized that they were naked. Looking about in brainless bewilderment Gizzard asked,
"Where's our clo's?"
And although Sube knew, he was never able to tell, for at that instant he saw rising before him like a Phœnix from its ashes the battered remains of Dr. Mossman. It then became apparent that Sube had lost some of his contempt for the minister, for he tried to avoid him and jump hastily back into the water.
But alas, he was too late.
Dr. Mossman seized him with an iron grip and drew his shivering body across a large pious knee—and for the next few moments forgot all about his hobby.