"Very extraordinary; what can that mean?" said Sophie Duquesné.
"My dear Miss Duquesné," said Listado, "I see I must give you some lessons in pronunciation still—why will you worry your R's so in your beautiful throat?"
"It is my French accent, you know, and I cannot help it," said the lovely creature, laughing.
"But really what is this?" said Helen; and as she spoke, the jet gradually became weaker and weaker; the water in the pool rapidly subsided for a minute; and then, with a loud, gurgling noise, disappeared altogether, leaving the rocky bed dry, and the poor pet mountain-mullets walloping amongst the water-plants like so many silver wedges.
"Hillo," shouted Listado, in extreme surprise—"Hillo, who has stolen our purling stream?—what the devil has become of the river, Master Hudson?" This was a thing neither Mr Hudson nor any one else could tell—that it had absolutely vanished as described was clear enough; but just as the girls and De Walden had secured the fish in a tub, the basin was again filled, as suddenly as it had been emptied, with the same loud gurgle, too, and in ten minutes one could not have told that any thing had happened.
"There must have been some subterranean convulsions to produce this phenomenon," said I.
"No doubt of it," rejoined Listado—"Old Nicholas had run short of water for his tay, and borrowed our beautiful jet for a little—but, hush! he has heard me, so sure as peas are pays in Ireland, and has turned off the water again—Hush!"
It once more disappeared in the same manner, and with the same loud, gurgling noise as before; but after the basin was dry this time, we distinctly heard several distant reports, in the bowels of the earth, like the far-off reverberations of a cannon-shot amongst the hills.
"There was no earthquake?" said Mr Hudson, looking round enquiringly, after we had a little recovered from our surprise—no one had perceived it if there had been. "I should not be surprised if this be the precursor of one, however," he continued, "after this long drought and intense heat."
*****