“He’s disappeared,” says I.
“F-f-find him, then,” says Mark, sharp-like, and off he went to figgering and whittling again.
So we started off to hunt for Mr. Man, and pretty quick we heard him moving around among the bushes in the middle of the island. We went over cautious where we could see him, and in a minute you could tell he was searching. He was looking behind every log and under every hanging bush and up into every tree.
“Huntin’ for George,” says I. “Figgers on beatin’ us even if he is stranded on a desert island.”
“What if he finds him?” says Binney.
“Hain’t no idee,” says I.
We followed along, keeping out of sight. Mr. Man was working nearer to the old clearing, when all of a sudden he let out a yell, and we could hear something busting, and in the shake of a lamb’s tail he popped out of sight. And right there I heard one of the loudest bellers I ever heard in my life.
There wasn’t any use to hide any more, so all of us rushed out to see what had happened. It didn’t take long to find out. Mr. Man had gone along looking for George so busy he forgot to look out for himself, which hain’t a good plan, by any means, and he went and stepped onto some rotten boards that covered an old shallow well that had once been used when the dance-hall was doing business. Yes, sir, he stepped right on those boards and they busted under him, and down he went. When we got there he was standing about up to his waist in muddy water, and his head was just so far below the edge of the ground that he couldn’t reach up to it to climb out. He was in a nice mess, and he acted like he didn’t enjoy it. If ever a man was in a hole that man was in one, and there wasn’t the least chance in the world of his getting out of it unless somebody helped him. And the way he bellered! You would have thought he was being scalped. It wasn’t comfortable, of course, but he wasn’t in any danger as I could see. The trouble was he couldn’t get out and he was scared.
“Go tell Mark,” says I to Binney.
Binney ran off, and I leaned over and says to Mr. Man: