“Come on! Come on!” he shouted again. “Don’t be grumpy, Charley. I’m going to see what mischief has been done.” But as Charley paid no attention to his shout he gave it up for the moment and hurried around the rocks into another cove, where Dr. Dan stood looking off on the lake. “I don’t see anything of the monster, Mr. Darrell,” he said. “It must have pulled down into the water again.” “Don’t bother to call me Mr. Darrell. Call me Dick. Here’s where it must have been. The water is very deep right up against the shore, isn’t it? Of course this is the place.” Here the space between the rocks and the water was not more than three feet in width. It would have been an easy matter for the monster to have thrown his head and neck over the rocks, which were not more than a dozen feet high above the water, but there was no trace of the Plesiosaurus to be seen now. “Do you suppose he hit him, Doc?” asked Dick, anxiously. “No, I don’t,” was the reply. “We should see blood here somewhere if he had, and there is none.” “Anyhow, the shot must have sent the monster down under the water again. It’s too bad, too bad.” “Well, I don’t know,” said Dr. Dan. “It seems to me that it’s about all right. You couldn’t have done anything anyway. You’ve seen the thing with your own eyes now, Dick. You can’t accuse me of lying any more.” “I never did,” replied Dick. “It was hard to believe that one of these strange creatures had survived, for they belong to the animal creation of one of the most distant prehistoric periods, but seeing is believing, so no more need be said about it. Question now is what’s to be done?” “Your orders are to take the monster alive if possible?” “Yes, and to telegraph Professor Poynter at once if I caught a sight of it.” “That’s impossible. We can’t pull up stakes and go back to Node Ranch without accomplishing more than we have already. It would be ridiculous.” “It seems so to me. I didn’t give it any thought at the time I received my instructions, but I see it now.” “Probably Professor Poynter gave it no thought, either. What you want to do is to hold on here a week or so and try and find out what the habits of this creature are. When we know more about it we can come to some conclusion as to what we ought to do, which is more than we can now.” “You are right,” said Dick, “and that’s what we will do; but I must get back to the camp. It isn’t going to pay us to quarrel. I shall have to apologize to Charley for the calling down I gave him.” “And I’ll keep on around the lake,” replied Doctor Dan. “You and Charley can follow me up after you settle your quarrel.” They separated then and Dick hurried back to the camp, feeling very sorry for his explosion and full of anxiety to make matters right with his friend.