"Look behind you," whispered the schoolmaster. Coristine
looked, and was aware of three girls, truly rural, sitting on the bank
and apparently absorbed in contemplating the swimmers. "This is awful!"
he ejaculated, as he slid down into deep water; "Wilks, it's scare the
life out of them I must, or we'll never get back to our clothes. Now,
listen to me." Dipping his head once more under water till it dripped,
he let out a fearful sound, like "Gurrahow skrrr spat, you young
gurruls, an' if yeez don't travel home as fast as yer futs'll taake
yeez, it's I'll be afther yeez straight, och, garrahow skrr spat
whishtubbleubbleubble!" The rural maidens took to their heels and ran,
as Coristine swam into shore. In a minute the swimmers were into their
clothes and packs, and resumed their march, much refreshed by the cool
waters of the Georgian Bay.
"And where is it we're bound for now, Wilks?"
"For the abandoned shale-works at the foot of the Blue Mountains."
"Fwhat's that, as Jimmie Butler said about the owl?"
"The Utica formation, which crops out here, consists largely of
bituminous shales, that yield mineral oil to the extent of twenty
gallons to the ton.
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