“Hang it!” he gasped as he rose spluttering. “I must try another place.”
Treading water for a moment he looked round for a place where the bank would be easy to scale. A spot quickly caught his eye, and towards this he was about to strike out, when a strange phenomenon startled him. The bank appeared to be rising slowly out of the water!
He could scarcely believe the evidence of his own eyes. The sides of the pond had not been more than eight feet in height when first he struck the water; of that he was perfectly sure; yet now, at the very lowest point, they were twelve feet, and seemed to be getting higher each moment.
Was he the victim of some delusion? He rubbed his eyes, he pinched his arm to assure himself that he was not dreaming.
Then, with startling suddenness the truth came to him.
The water of the pool was slowly sinking!
[CHAPTER XIX.]
THE FIRE GULF.
THE shock of this discovery aroused him to action. Swimming to the spot he had picked out, he commenced once more to scale the bank. Eight feet he climbed; his goal was almost within reach, when, without warning, the whole face of the bank to which he was clinging gave way, and he plunged down again into the water, the earth rattling over him as he fell.
He was somewhat alarmed when he rose again. The water was still steadily sinking, and he was no nearer escape than at his first attempt. Indeed, he was further from his object, for the lower the water sank the higher he would have to climb. Escape from the pool did not appear so easy as it had done some time before.