Page:Clement Fezandié - Through the Earth.djvu/197

Rh store for him, quietly swam for the reservoir, and turned on the faucet; but, to his surprise, no water came out.

"H'm! this is pleasant," he said. "Dr. Giles must have forgotten to fill the reservoir."

Wishing to "make assurance doubly sure," he lifted off the cover, but in doing this left the faucet open, and also neglected to keep hold of the strap on the side of the car; and to these omissions he owed a new and rather disagreeable experience, for in his effort to lift off the lid he was obliged to use the side of the car as a point of resistance.

The consequence was that, when the cover did come off, the force of his exertions sent him flying through the air, still clutching the cover; and, as usual in his flights, he began spinning around, this time varying the monotony by turning his somersaults backward.

But this was not the worst of the matter, for, the faucet having been left open, the cover acted as a sort of piston, and sucked up all the water in the reservoir after it; and this water, accordingly, followed our hero in his strange flight, so that the poor boy was soaked through and through, while the water, by his violent movements, was scattered to all sides of the room as spray, and was either