To his surprise, on letting his body sink, his feet touched bottom, and he stood in water not much more than waist deep, but which swept against him with almost irresistible force.
His first impulse was to scream, "Frank! oh, Frank!" but only a dull echo mocked him, and he received no reply but the rush and gurgle of the water as it hurried past.
Then in an instant he comprehended what had happened.

He had been flung into a "sink hole," and was now buried in the channel of one of those mysterious underground rivers of which Mr.March had told them a few nights before.

That was at home, where he was surrounded by his own loving parents and friends.

Should he ever see them again?
No; he was buried alive.
Buried alive! he, Mark Elmer?
No--it couldn't be.

It must be a dreadful dream, a nightmare; and he laughed hysterically to think how improbable it would all seem when he awoke.
But he felt the cold water sweeping by him and knew it was no dream.
The reality stunned him, and he became incapable of thinking; he only moaned and called out, incoherently, "Mother! father! Ruth!" After a while he began to think again.