"I don't think so," I replied, "but we're quite near the water's edge now—perhaps I could swim ashore with you."
"Good gracious! I can swim twice that distance myself, thank you. Why, I beat Mullings Major hollow in the swimming competition last term, and he's four years older than me, and—"
Whatever Lionel was going to add was lost, for at that instant he had to put his boasted prowess to the test. The box, having filled with water just as I had feared it would do, sank slowly down, and we were left in the water.
Fortunately Lionel's boast was not a vain one, and he reached the shore before I did, laughing and wringing the water out of his clothes.
"Well, it's good to be on dry land once more at any rate," he said, as I waded ashore, "isn't it?"
"Yes," I agreed, looking about to see if I could discover any traces of Shin Shira in the dusk.
"There he is!" at last cried Lionel, "but his head has vanished, and there are only his legs and arms waving about. They won't be much use to us, and—by Jove! yes! Look, here comes that wretched old duck after us. We'll have to cut," and he gathered up his things and set the example.
It was quite true; the old duck had evidently come to the conclusion that we were something dainty to eat—in the frog line probably—and was waddling towards us as quickly as her game leg would allow.
Fortunately we were soon able to out-distance her; and having fixed our latitude by Kensington Palace, which we could just see in the distance, we set out for the gate.
To our tiny, but rapidly growing bodies the distance seemed an interminable one, especially as darkness was now quickly falling. We could see the lights in Kensington, but they seemed far, far away; and to add to our dismay, when at last, tired and exhausted, we did reach the gate, it was only to find it closed for the night, and that during our journey from the Pond we had grown too big to be able to squeeze through the railings.