The Third Scene

For many days the skies had released vast quantities of winter rain. The calm, summer stream now raged against its sloping banks and undercut yards of earth which slumped into and disappeared beneath the muddy torrent. One especially bulky mass of earth, in which several turtles were winter-sleeping, slowly settled at the edge of the water. Perhaps the waters would recede without washing the mass away; and after waking, the turtles would be unable to dig their way to the surface through their collapsed, dislocated tunnels. What may have happened to the sleeping turtles?