The outsweep of water had lowered the body of it in the den, so that the boys were no longer in danger of drowning, but they knew that in time the little apartment would fill again, as the main cellar filled. Clay took Tom by the shoulder and pushed him to the doorway.
“Dive through!” he said, “and when you get out into the cellar make for the stairs and climb up. This old shack will be afloat in no time! Hurry, now! Perhaps Captain Joe will help you if you tumble down!”
Tom shivered and hesitated until Clay became angry.
“All right!” he said. “I’ll go first. You keep close to me!”
And so the lads dove through the doorway, groped, half strangled, up the stairs, over fallen timbers and planks, and so on into the main hall, where there was no water as yet, but where the floor was sagging because of the washed-out foundations.
Case, Alex, and Don were there to meet them. Outside the crowd was cheering wildly and shouting congratulations to the boys who had entered the flooded basement to open the door.
Clay and Tom began expressing their gratitude and their appreciation of the brave act, but Don cut them off with a question.
“Did you get the wallet?” he asked.
“Of course we did!” replied Clay, “and we got something else, too.”
“What else was there to get?” asked Don.