"Come up this minute."
No answer.
"Come up, I say."
Presently he could just see the child's face in the lowest visible depths of the horrible chasm. Choto, after snuffing at the opening, came up again, round and round the basin as before; Nela too was climbing up, but very slowly. Indeed, she stopped, and repeated feebly: "Señor?..."
"I tell you come up. What are you doing here?"
Nela came a little further.
"Come—quickly. I have something to tell you."
"To tell me?"
"Yes—something I must tell you at once."
Nela crawled up; but Teodoro did not feel sure that he had triumphed till he had seized her hand and held it tightly to lead her away with him.