“He hasn’t come up to the surface, you ass!” said Carroll. “Do you think he can swim a hundred yards under water?” “What then do you think we are going to do?” he asked, in ghastly tones. “Why two of us are going up to Doctor Forester, and two are going to stay here and keep watch.” “You don’t think....” “What, in heaven’s name, can we think?” Carroll and Marsh started on a run up the beach, leaving their two companions crouched on the rocks, peering down fearsomely into the stream. The night seemed to them to grow colder, darker, more dismal. The moon in fact had set. “By Jove, this is rum!” Thorndyke choked, in a grisly effort to seem at ease. “It’s ghastly, Harry,” whispered Chapin, as he put his hand on the other boy’s arm. CHAPTER III “PAX” It is not to be supposed that we share the fright of the four hazers. Tony of course was not drowned, nor indeed at any time had he been in danger. He had not lived on a Mississippi bayou for the greater part of his life in vain. He was an excellent swimmer, and he had the knack to an unusual degree of swimming under water a long distance. When Chapin had first advanced upon him, he had intended to fight, but he realized at once that such a course would be foolish, for he would inevitably be conquered, and forced in the long run to go through the “stunts” even in a more unpleasant fashion than if he submitted at once. He had, however, no intention of submitting so long as he saw any possibility of a way out of the situation. Suddenly it occurred to him that by jumping into the creek and swimming for some distance under water, he might get a start in the way of escape that it would be difficult for his pursuers to make up. In this way the hazing might be avoided for the night at least, and on the morrow he could take counsel as to the future with some of his new-found allies.