CHAPTER IX
THE START OF A BAD NIGHT
Without noise, leaving barely a ripple behind, that head sank from view. It had vanished in an instant before the eyes of the two thoroughly startled high school boys.
"He's drowning now!" gasped Dan, as the head failed to bob up again into view. "Oh, Tom, we must save him!"
"Wait!" said Reade, in a quivering voice. His eyes expressed uncertainty as to how he should act.
"But he's drowning. You see, he hasn't come up again!" Dalzell insisted.
"Drowning—-in water shallow enough for small bushes to grow from the bottom?" demanded Reade. "Of course not! But what does it mean—-and why didn't the fellow speak?"
"Perhaps—-i—-i—-it was a—-dead man," suggested Dalzell.
"That's what I'm trying to figure out," replied Reade. "I—-I almost thought I saw the man's eyelids move."
"I thought so, too," agreed Dan, "but now I'm inclined to believe that we didn't. Wait! I'm going to get close to the bushes."