Gabrielle looked. "Five past three; and we're just opposite the Round Tower; that means it isn't much more than a mile to Hesgate Rectory. We shall...."
What they might have done remained unknown. There was a curious sound behind them, nothing very loud, but loud enough to make them look round. The water all around them seemed to upheave violently. Instinctively they clung together, and it was a mercy that they did. There was a terrific suck and gurgle about them, and next moment the white posts were all obliterated, and they were swaying helplessly in a great waste of water, which had suddenly grown frighteningly deep. "What is it?" Joey gasped, as the first shock passed, and they found themselves still on their feet, but with the water washing nearly to their waists.
"I don't know," Gabrielle said, staring around her, but Noreen gave a little choke. "You bet it's the reservoir—that weak bank gone—and it's still forty minutes to high tide."
Joey woke up. "We must get across to the Round Tower."
"It's locked, isn't it?" asked Noreen. It was a proof she was inwardly frightened that she did not add, "you juggins!"
"And there's a bad ditch somewhere near it, Joey," Gabrielle added. "We could never find it now."
"I could," Joey spoke confidently. "I've been there, remember. Hold on to me, Gabby; I'm sure I can dodge that ditch; I know where it was."
Gabrielle hesitated for a moment; while Noreen and Joey looked anxiously at her. Every one knew that Gabrielle could not swim. Noreen was not much of a performer; but Gabrielle had been too delicate to learn at all so far.
"We might keep the road," she said; "but we mightn't, and it's a mile. We'll risk the ditch—on one condition, Joey. If we slip—and we'll be going into deeper water anyhow, you know—you and Noreen must save yourselves, and not bother about me."
"We're not going to slip, but we're going to hurry," Joey said. "I'll go in front, because I know the way. You hold on to me, Gabby, and Noreen hold on to you. We'll have to jump the roadside ditch; it isn't a wide one, but it will make a beastly splash. When I say Now!"