It was no easy task; for as the dog rose again, it was evidently
frightened by its immersion beneath the surface, and began barking,
whining, and struggling to escape from its master's grasp.

"What is it? What are you doing?" cried Joe, as he held the light close
to the roof.

"Doing? Can't you see the dog's half mad. Quiet, Grip! What is it!
Hold still, will you?"

But this seemed to be the last thing the poor beast was disposed to do;
for the tie, drag under the surface, and the seizure by the collar were
all suggestive to its benighted intellect of death by drowning; and just
as Gwyn, chin-deep in the water now and hardly able from his natural
buoyancy to keep his footing, was backing towards the light, holding by
the collar with both hands, the dog gathered itself together with its
hind-legs resting against its master's breast, and made a tremendous
bound as if for life.

Gwyn had had some experience of the muscular power in a collie dog, but
never till that moment did he fully realise what strength a desperate
animal does possess; for that bound sent the dog forward and him
backward; and completely off his balance, his head went down, his legs
rose from his buoyancy in the water, and as he made a desperate effort
to regain his feet, there came a sharp drag at the neckerchief he had
twisted round his hand, and he was dragged under in turn and towed along
for some moments before he could get his head above the surface of the
black water again. Then, obeying his natural instinct, he struck out
and began to swim, feeling himself drawn steadily along by the dog
farther and farther from the light which gleamed from the water, and
into the black darkness and the unknown depths.

CHAPTER THIRTY FIVE.

THE HELP AT LAST.

Joe uttered a groan, and began to wade after his companion, scraping the
lanthorn against the roof from time to time in his agitation. He would
have called to Gwyn to come back, but he could not find the words. He
felt, though, that he must follow to help him, and began to wonder
whether he could keep the light above water with one hand as he swam;
and he prepared to try, for he felt that he must strike out as soon as
the water touched his chin.

Then he paused, for from out of the darkness, and loud above the
splashing, came Gwyn's angry words to the dog.

"You wretch! Come back!" he roared. "Wait till I get out of this, and
I'll give you such a licking as will make your coat ro