Bonner, Richard / 2008-10-12 00:00:00
But his weight was
materially added to by the stones, and it was no light task to rescue
him, dripping and shivering, from the dark, cold shaft.
He explained that soon after they had gone some men came up and drove
the bull away. But they had seen the gap in the stone wall first.
"They were positively violent," declared the professor, "and said that
they'd have the man who did it arrested if they could find him. Under
the circumstances, I deemed it prudent to stay up in the tree, where
they could not see me. They drove the bull off into another pasture.
As soon as the coast was clear I climbed down, but I happened to see a
rare bit of quartz sparkling in the sun on the edge of the well-curb.
Imprudently I stood on the planking and fell in."
"Gracious, it's a lucky thing you weren't drowned, with all that
weight round your neck," declared Jack.
"It was fortunate," said the scientist mildly, as if such a thing as
drowning was an everyday occurrence. "As a matter of fact, if I hadn't
succeeded in grasping a projecting stone and held on, I might have
gone down. It was an--er--a most discomforting experience."
"Well, of all things," exclaimed the red-faced man, "to go trapesing
round the country collecting rocks!"
"Not rocks, sir--geological specimens," rejoined the professor with
immense dignity, "and--great Huxley! Under your foot, sir! Under your
foot!"
"What is it, a snake?" yelled the farmer, jumping backward as the
scientist dashed at him with a wild expression.
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