Next thing we might slump." "I do shake," said Dotty; "I can't help it." "Don't you say anything, Dotty Dimple.

I never should have thought of going across lots if you hadn't wanted to; and now you'd better keep still." So even this horrid predicament was owing to Dotty; she was to blame for everything.

"Stock-still" they stood under the beating rain, their hearts throbbing harder than the drops.
Yes, there certainly was a bottomless pond--Dotty had heard of it; on its borders grew the pitcher-plant which Uncle Henry had brought home once.

It was a green pitcher, very pretty, and if it had been glass it could have been set on the table with maple molasses in it (only nobody but poor people used molasses).
O, there _was_ a deep, deep pond, and grass grew round it and in it; and Uncle Henry had said it was no place for children; they could not be trusted to walk anywhere near it, for one false step might lead them into danger.

And now they had come to this very spot, this place of unknown horrors! What should they do?
Should they stand there and be struck by lightning, or try to go on, and only sink deeper and deeper till they choked and drowned?
Never in all Dotty's little life had she been in such a strait as this.
She cried so loud that her voice was heard above the storm, in unearthly shrieks.