“He’s here!”
“We’ve got him!”
“No you haven’t,” said Jonas.
With a sudden bound he rushed from his hiding place, and dashed towards the two trap-doors through which the sacks were raised from below.
They stood open; and in front of him dangled a long rope almost to the ground.
This he seized, and began to slide down with the skill of an acrobat.
But an accident happened to him that he least expected.
The crane was pushed out from the wall, and, to Jonas’s horror, he found himself dangling right over the mill-dam!
“Oh, the murdering villains! What must I do now?” thought the luckless servant. “They have shoved out the crane, and here am I dancing between the sky and a deep mill-dam.”
“Cut the rope! cut the rope!”