Page:Augusta Seaman--Jacqueline of the carrier pigeons.djvu/283

Rh enemy was there. And should Dirk not come back it was still very unsafe, for he  might be guarding the other entrance. But the matter was soon to be solved in a way  very different from any he could possibly have imagined.

While he stood considering his course, he was startled by a curious rumbling sound  that appeared to emanate from the very  earth under his feet. Then there were grinding and groaning noises, low and indistinct, but terrifying beyond imagination. Gysbert’s hair fairly rose on his head, and something impelled him to beat the hastiest  kind of a retreat. Turning on his heel, he ran with all speed to his boat, unmoored it,  pushed it off, and rowed far out upon the  black water.

Suddenly there was a terrific sound like an explosion, then a crash that shook the earth  for miles around, and made Gysbert’s little  boat rock on the waves till it all but overturned completely. When the boy recovered