Doctor Dan looked a bit puzzled.
“Might I inquire,” he asked in his stately way, “what you mean by old P. D.?”
“Why, certainly,” replied Charley. “Life is altogether too short to say Plesiosaurus Dolichodeirus every time and even Plesiosaurus without the doli-what’s-its-name takes too long, so from this time on I shall speak of our rubber-necked friend as old P. D.”
“Exactly,” said Doctor Dan. “Now that I know I shall remember. I am not familiar with the scientific names of these monsters. I expect to see something. Watch! It will come. On this very spot Ike Izard and I saw the water boil like this.”
“And nothing came of it?” asked Charley.
“Nothing then. The monster did not rise.”
“No, nor no monster will rise this time,” said Charley, emphatically. “You’ll see.”
“I think I know what you are driving at,” said Dick. “You are thinking of the underground lake we talked about.”
Charley nodded.
Doctor Dan looked puzzled, not understanding what that had to do with the boiling of the water which still continued.