at for that detestable amethyst ring. Of course it was not there.
And the picnic party would be home soon. And he really did not know what
his aunt would do to him.

'Shut me up in a dark cupboard, perhaps,' he thought gloomily, 'or put
me to bed all day to-morrow. Or give me lines to write out, thousands,
and thousands, and thousands, and thousands, and thousands, of them.'

The boat, set in motion by his stepping into it, swung out to the full
length of its rope. The sun was shining almost level across the water.
It was a very still evening, and the reflections of the trees and of the
house were as distinct as the house and the trees themselves. And the
water was unusually clear. He could see the fish swimming about, and the
sand and pebbles at the bottom of the moat. How clear and quiet it
looked down there, and what fun the fishes seemed to be having.

'I wish I was a fish,' said Kenneth. 'Nobody punishes _them_ for taking
rings they _didn't_ take.'

And then suddenly he saw the ring itself, lying calm, and quiet, and
round, and shining, on the smooth sand at the bottom of the moat.

He reached for the boat-hook and leaned over the edge of the boat trying
to get up the ring on the boat-hook's point. Then there was a splash.

'Good gracious! I wonder what that is?' said cook in the kitchen, and
dropped the saucepan with the welsh rabbit in it which she had just made
for kitchen supper.

Kenneth had leaned out too far over the edge of the boat, the boat had
suddenly decided to go the other way, and Kenneth had fallen into the
water.

The first thing he felt was delicious coolness, the second that his
clothes had gone, and the next thing he noticed was that he was swimming
quite easily and comfortably under water, and that he had no trouble
with his breathing, such as people who tell you not to fall into water
seem to expect you to have. Also he could see quite well, which he had
never been able to do under water before.

'I can't think,' he said to himself, 'why people make so much fuss about
your falling into the water. I sha'n't be in a hurry to get out. I'll
swim right round the moat while I'm about it.'

[Illustration: There was a splash.]

It was a very much longer swim than he expected, and as he swam he
noticed one or two things that struck him as rather odd. One was that he
couldn't see his hands. And another was that he couldn't feel his feet.
And he met some enormous fishes, like great cod or hal