Page 324 - The snake's pass

312 — THE snake's pass.
his efforts that the great stones thrown into the chine
had become solidified with the rubbish by the new weight
of the risen bog into a compact mass, and unless some
heroic measure, such as blowing up the dam, should be
taken, the bog would continue to rise until it should
flow over the lowest part of the solid banks containing it.
" As sure as we are here, Art," he said, " that man
will do himself to death. I am convinced that if the
present state of things goes on, with the bog at its present
height, and with this terrible rainfall, there will be
another shifting of the bog— and then, God help him,
and perhaps others too ! I told him of the danger,
and explained it to him—but he only laughed at me and
called me a fool and a traitor — that I was doing it to
prevent him getting his treasure — his treasure, for-
sooth — and then he went again into those terrible
!
blasphemies—so I came away ; but he is a lost man,
and I don't see how we can stop him." I said
earnestly :
" Dick, there's no danger to them—the Joyces—is
"
there ?
" No ! " be answered, " not the slightest—their house
is on the rock, high over the spot, and quite away from
any possible danger."
Then we relapsed into silence, as we each tried to think
out a solution.
That night it rained more heavily than ever. The
downfall was almost tropical—as it can be on the West
Coast—and the rain on the iron roof of the stable behind