The professor was literally wedged in the hole in the trench. What was worse was that he was acting like a plug. The water level in the trench was getting higher and higher and only his head with an attached torch remained above. Pete laid down and tried to reach him without actually setting foot into the trench. "Hold my legs" he shouted to Sam, who immediately sat her weight on his calves and grabbed the back of his jacket. He still could not reach the professor and now and then his his face would dip under the muddy water.
The water level continued to rise and the professor was starting to panic, his screams were only being curtailed by the ingress of water into his mouth. Pete was doing the arm movements of breaststroke just to keep his head above the water. Sam was pointlessly shouting instructions to both of them.
A sudden subterranean thud was followed by the sucking sound of water as the professor noticeably dropped vertically down. Sam pulled Pete back from what was now a muddy crater. The Professor had disappeared into the watery abyss, his shouts now silenced.
Pete lay panting on the wet grass as Sam circled the trench trying to see how far the professor had gone and shouting his name in what seemed like a vain hope of a reply. Again a deep rumbling was heard but it was now continuous. Then like some sort of time lapse jack in the box, first the professors head and shoulders appeared emerging from the hole. Rotating as he rose higher, ap Tomas had a strange benign grin on his face extenuating the child's toy metaphor.
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