Freddie put his hand in Toby's, and held it tight. "You keep close to me if you can," said Toby, squeezing his hand. "We may be rescued at the last minute; you never can tell. Don't lose your nerve." Freddie was trembling with fear, and the hand which held Toby's was as cold as ice; but he said nothing; the others were being brave, and he resolved that he would be as brave as the rest, up to the very last. He began to think of his mother and his father, and to wonder what would become of them if he should be--but he forced himself not to think of that; he pressed his lips tight together, and commanded himself to be brave. The six pirates returned, clad in their baggy rubber suits, and looking very much like bears walking on their hind legs. They brought with them Captain Lingo's suit, and helped him to get into it. When he was encased like the others, with only his hands and face showing, he said: "Now, madam, I will assist you to the fall." "We'll attend to that," put in Toby, quickly. "Come on, Mr. Punch." Aunt Amanda's cane having been lost, she found more difficulty in walking than formerly, but Toby and Mr. Punch supported her to such good effect that she kept up with the others very well on their march into the water towards the fall. All, except the pirates, shivered as the cold water came again around their knees, and they looked with fear upon the tumbling cataract which they were required to go under. There was no help for it, however; the seven pirates surrounded them and persuaded them to go on. They stood in a forlorn group in the quiet water near the foot of the fall. "Now, madam," said Captain Lingo, "I will help you under." Toby and Mr. Punch, feeling that the pirate knew the way better than they did, resigned Aunt Amanda to his care, not without some fear that the villain might deliberately drown her on the way through. He made her kneel in the water, and then lie flat; and with a strong arm he pulled her under the water-fall and out of sight. "You're next," said a deep voice to Freddie, and Ketch the Practitioner seized him and plunged with him under the water; and in an instant they had disappeared beyond the fall. One after another the miserable, shivering victims were assisted by the pirates under the water, and one by one disappeared. The Old Codger with the Wooden Leg was the last, and one of the pirates returned for him. When he had followed the others, the great half-dark chamber remained as it had been before, in its empty solitude and gloom, without an ear to hear the steady rush of water pouring incessantly down its fall.