He armed himself with a stick. Thus prepared he made a circuit of the shore. The dog testified to its appreciation of his evident intention in a most unmistakable manner.
“Glad of a little help, are you?” said Philip aloud to the yellow dog as he went toward the object in the water.
“It has a funny look,” he thought, “a very funny look.”
With his stick he poked at it.
The object with a light silly motion bobbed up and down in the water. Philip poked more vigorously. “Come loose!” he insisted. “Come loose!”
Then all in an instant the stick slid from his grasp into the water and glided away 'beyond his reach.
The thing had turned—'turned with a ghastly sickening semblance of life, disclosing a blue discolored hand so poised that it was outstretched straight and stiff. As it swept past it touched Philip.
“It's a man!” he cried, shrinking away. “As I live it's a man!”
The object, turning farther, floated free upon its back and lay so, and he saw the bloated, hideously swollen face of Lester Royal. There was no mistaking it.
Philip uncovered his head and leaned back upon the shelving bank. The dog crept to his side, and he caressed it silently.