It would be another five- and-twenty minutes before the water would be high enough for him to grasp the top.
"He noted where the line of wet had reached to, on the smooth stone wall, then looked again after what he thought must be a lapse of ten minutes, and found it had risen half an inch, if that.

Once or twice he shouted for help, but the effort taxed severely his already failing breath, and his voice only came back to him in a hundred echoes from his prison walls.
"Inch by inch the line of wet crept up, but the spending of his strength went on more swiftly.

It seemed to him as if his inside were being gripped and torn slowly out: his whole body cried out to him to let it sink and lie in rest at the bottom.
"At length his unconscious burden opened its eyes and stared at him stupidly, then closed them again with a sigh; a minute later opened them once more, and looked long and hard at him.
"'Let me go,' he said, 'we shall both drown.

You can manage by yourself.' "He made a feeble effort to release himself, but the other held him.
"'Keep still, you fool!' he hissed; 'you're going to get out of this with me, or I'm going down with you.' "So the grim struggle went on in silence, till the man, looking up, saw the stone coping just a little way above his head, made one mad leap and caught it with his finger-tips, held on an instant, then fell back with a 'plump' and sank; came up and made another dash, and, helped by the impetus of his rise, caught the coping firmly this time with the whole of his fingers, hung on till his eyes saw the stunted grass, till they were both able to scramble out upon the bank and lie there, their breasts pressed close against the ground, their hands clutching the earth, while the overflowing water swirled softly round them.
"After a while, they raised themselves and looked at one another.
"'Tiring work,' said the other man, with a nod towards the lock.
"'Yes,' answered the husband, 'beastly awkward not being a good swimmer.
How did you know I had fallen in?
You met my wife, I suppose ?' "'Yes,' said the other man.
"The husband sat staring at a point in the horizon for some minutes.

'Do you know what I was wondering this morning ?' said he.
"'No,' said the other man.
"'Whether I should kill you or not.' "'They told me,' he continued, after a pause, 'a lot of silly gossip which I was cad enough to believe.