“When does he go?”
“Now,” says Mark.
“And all I’ve got to do is just slide across and fetch a supply of matches?” says I. “Swim under water with ’em? How’ll I keep ’em dry? And while I’m there hadn’t I better fetch along the kitchen stove? Could just as well’s not.”
“You’re goin’ to be k-kept busy,” says Mark, “without tirin’ yourself out tryin’ to be funny. Do your jokin’ when you get back with the m-matches.”
I COULD GET INTO THE WATER WITHOUT THE LEAST BIT OF DANGER OF ANYBODY’S SEEING ME
We pushed off the canoe and Plunk started out with a pillow-case lying handy for him to wave. He paddled until he got opposite the porch of the hotel, and then, all of a sudden, he acted as if he was looking for something on the far shore of the lake. After he’d watched a minute he rose up as high as he dared without tipping over, and began to wave like he had gone crazy. He flapped that pillow-case around his head in circles and back and forth and up and down, at the same time letting out a holler as if he was tickled to death about something.
As soon as Plunk’s side-show was performing I got ready for the main act. Mark took me into the citadel, where we pried up a loose plank in the floor. That part of the building was built on spiles right over the water. So all I had to do was let myself through. That way I could get into the water without the least bit of danger of anybody’s seeing me. The water was up to my neck under the floor and got deeper toward the edge. I found that out all by myself. It didn’t take any help at all. All I did was to take one step careless-like, and into a hole I went ker-splash!
It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been talking to Mark at that minute. But I was. I guess I must have been saying a big word, because my mouth was as far open as I could get it. When you duck suddenly under water with your mouth wide open the pleasure you get out of it is very small. If Lake Ravona hadn’t been a pretty good-sized body of water I’d have swallowed all of it and left the fish flopping on dry land. As it was I did my best and lowered the level considerable.
When I came up, choking and splashing and close to drowned to death, Mark Tidd was laughing fit to split.