there watching it. It seemed as if the
earth was being made all over again, as you might say.

"That's where we came through only a little while ago," I said, "how
will it be inside where the lake was--is?"

Especially it seemed queer like, because it was getting dark fast and
the sound of the water rushing and the sky all black made everything
seem awful gloomy.

"Is Temple Camp all right, do you suppose?" I asked Bert.

"Guess so," he said, "that's over on the south shore. But hanged if I
know how we're going to get there or anywhere else. Guess we'll just
have to stand here like the Statue of Liberty."

I said, "Listen to the water."

"It isn't so high in the valley," Bert said; "it must have been worse a
couple of hours ago." Then all of a sudden he said.

"Shh--listen!"

"I hear it," I said.

"No, not the water," he said; "listen. Do you hear a sound like
groaning?"

I listened, and as sure as I was standing there, I heard a low sound,
as if someone was groaning far away.

"That isn't the water, is it?" Bert asked

"Sure it isn't," I told him, "and it isn't from up through Nick's
Valley, because, look, the wind is blowing from us that way."

I held up my scout scarf to show him how it blew toward the valley. And
again we heard the groans, long and low, sort of.

"It's somewhere right around here," Bert said; then all of a sudden he
said, "Look!"

Just in back of us, not more than twenty or thirty feet off, was the
pit I could see it plain, because the stone work came up a couple of
feet or so above the ground. Right close to it was a canoe all smashed
in. I could see now that a couple of hours or so earlier, the water
must have poured through there when it first overflowed the creek.

We listened again and could hear the groaning plain.

"I don't know who it is," Bert said, "but that's the Gold Dust Twins'
canoe. Come on."

We plodded over through the mud and water to the pit and looked over
the edge. It was pretty dark down there, but I could see that there was
only a little water in the bottom of it--not much more than before.

"That's funny," Bert said; "it must have overflowed in there when it
first splashed down into the creek bed."

He felt in his pocket and took out a flashlight and held it down the
hole, but it was wet and wouldn't light.

"Look down at the bottom, over at the left side," he said; "do you see
something?"

At first it looked like a bundle all covered with mud. T