"Where?" demanded Mr. Yard, while the others were speechless with terror.
"He has hold of my leg! O, save me, for he is pulling me under!"
There was danger for a moment that all would go to the bottom, but Mr. Yard displayed a remarkable coolness that saved them all.
"It is not a shark," said he, "or he would have had your leg off before this."
"What is it then? What can it be?"
"It is a drowning man that has caught your foot as he was going down. You must kick him off or he will drown you. Has he one foot or both?"
"My left ankle is grasped by something."
"That is good; if he had hold of both feet it would be bad for you. Use your free foot and force his grasp loose."
Elwood did so with such vigor that he soon had the inexpressible relief of announcing that the drag weight was loosed and his limbs were free again.
"That is terrible," said he, as they resumed their progress. "Just to think of being seized in that way by some poor fellow who, I don't suppose, really knew what he was doing."