"Did you scream?" asked the Professor, absorbed in the account.
"My dear man, how could I, with my mouth chock-a-block with a large and elegant bundle of gag? I was thankful that my wits were workin', let alone my lung power! Well, he tossed me in the nasty, black lake, and that's where he spilled the beans! For ground and lofty tumbling into lakes is my specialty. I'm the humble disciple of Miss Annette Kellerman, and not so awful humble, either! So, I held my breath under water long enough to wriggle my feet out of those ropes, the old stupid didn't know how to tie anything but a granny slip knot! and I scrambled out, just as my windpipe was beginning to go back on me."
"You make light of it, Zizi, but it was a narrow squeak," said Wise, looking at her gravely.
"You bet it was! If he'd had a softer rope, I'd been done for. It was the stiffness of that rope, and--well, the stiffness of my upper lip,--that rescued your little Ziz from a watery grave, and horrid dirty old water, too!"
Wise slipped his arm round the child, and told her to go on with the story.
"Then," she proceeded, "I squz out what wetness I could from my few scanty robes, in which I was bedecked, and I borrowed the long cloak, which friend Kidnapper had kindly wrapped me in."
"Nothing very smart," said Zizi, nonchalantly, "looked to me like an old-fashioned waterproof,--the kind they wore, before raincoats came in. Only, it _wasn't_ waterproof, not by several jugs full! But I wrung it out all I could, and then I tried to get in the house. But,--it was all locked up, and as it seemed a pity to disturb all you sound sleepers, I ran to the village and begged a lodging with my friend, Mr. Peterson. He and his wife were most kind, and put me in a nice dry, little bed, that had no tassels or ghosts attached to it. I sent Mr. Wise a note, as soon as I could, so he wouldn't worry."
"That was the note I received at the breakfast table," Wise informed them. "Now, you see, there is a real man at the bottom of the villainy going on up here. He desired to remove Zizi, lest she discover his crime, and I daresay, he planned to dispose of me also, if he could manage it. His seems to be a will that stops at nothing, that is ready to commit any crime or any number of crimes to save his own skin. Has anybody present any idea of the identity of this man? Any reason to suspect any one? Any light whatever to throw on the situation?"