“Wait till the tide’s down, so that we can open them and let the water run off.”
“You can’t do anything till then?”
“We could begin digging farther on,” said Mr Marston; “but as the tide will soon be going down I shall wait. It is a great nuisance, but I suppose I must have some accidents.”
The lads stayed with him all the afternoon, waiting till the tide had turned, and getting a good insight at last into how the drain would act.
It was very simple, for as soon as the tide was low enough the water ran rapidly from the drain; and that evening the gates were closed tightly to keep out the next rise, the great dike being quite empty.
The engineer walked back with the boys, for there was no riding. They had left Solomon tethered where he could get a good feed of grass and tender shoots; but upon reaching the spot when they were ready to return there was the tethering line gnawed completely through, and the donkey was out of sight.
“Not taken away?” said Mr Marston.
“No: he has gone home,” said Dick. “That rope wasn’t thick enough to hold him. I thought he would get away.”
“Then why not have asked me for a thicker rope, Dick?”
“What’s the good! If I had tied him there with a thicker rope, he’d have bitten through the bridle. He wanted to go back home, and when he does, he will go somehow.”