As for myself, I have not closed an
eye."
"Nor did I, Father, until day began to break. Now please, let us talk
over our plan of escape first, for we may be interrupted at any
moment."
"Right you are, lad. Does your friend here speak English? For I have
never got to be a good hand at their lingo. I want to thank him, too,
but as you say, time is precious, and we must postpone that."
"He understands it, Father, and can talk it pretty fairly. We have
been constantly together for nearly two years.
"Now, in the first place, is there any place where we can get down
from the top here, with the aid of a rope?"
"It would be a pretty tough job, anyhow, but at the farthest end of
the rock is a place where it goes sharp down, as if cut with a knife.
That would be the best place to try. I take it to be about two hundred
feet deep. Beyond, the ground seems to slope regularly away. If I
could have got a rope I should have tried it, but they are pretty
scarce commodities up here--in fact, I have never seen a piece twenty
feet long since we came. What sort of rope have you got?"
Dick opened the front of his garment, and showed the rope round his
body. Captain Holland gave a low whistle of dismay.
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