at the door had been left open.

That was nothing particular, but I went on to close it, not being able
to see the bottom, the view being cut off by a great solid bench in the
middle of the floor. On passing round this, though, I saw that there
was something wrong; two or three bands had gone from as many
grindstones, and had evidently been hastily thrown into the wheel-pit,
whoever had done this having left one on the floor, half in and half
out, and keeping the door from shutting close.

"That couldn't be Gentles," I said aloud as I threw back the door, and
my words echoed in the great black place, where the sunlight was cutting
the shadow in a series of nearly horizontal rays as it came in past the
wheel.

I could see at a glance the amount of the mischief done: one band was
evidently down in the water, and hung hitched in some way on to the band
upon the floor. It had been intended to be dragged in as well, but it
had caught against the iron of the rail that surrounded the bracket-like
platform the width of the door and projecting over the water, which was
ten feet below.

I recalled standing upon it to catch eels, when I contrived to catch the
lost bands as well, and thinking that perhaps after all there were
several of the straps sunken below me, I stooped down, took hold of the
band, and pulled.

It would not come, being caught somehow at the edge of the platform; so
gathering it closely in my hands rather unwillingly, for it was a wet
oily affair, I stepped on to the platform, uttered a shriek, and fell
with a tremendous splash into the water below. I felt the platform give
way, dropping at once from beneath my feet, and though I snatched at it
my hands glided over the boards in an instant and I was down amidst a
tangle of bands in the deep black water.

CHAPTER TWENTY.

A COMPANION IN TROUBLE.

I can't tell you the horrors of those moments as they appeared to me.
No description could paint it all exactly; but one moment I was down in
darkness with the current thundering in my ears, the next I was up at
the surface beating and splashing, listening to the echoing of the
water, which sounded hollow and strange, looking up at the sunshine that
streamed in past the wheel, and then I went under.

It is a strange admission to make, but in those first few moments of
surprise and horror I forgot that I knew how to swim, and all my
movements were instinctive and only wearied and sent me down again after