"The gramophone," said Andy. "I'm afraid, Tom, you may make rather a noise climbing down the cliff, and the sentry might think you had escaped—but if I set the gramophone going, singing that silly lullaby you sang yesterday, he will think it's you still in the cave—and he won't come and see what the matter is. So I'm going to let it down, and you must set it right, and tie a bit of string to it so that I can pull the switch and set the record going when I think it's best to."
"Golly!" said Tom. "You think of everything!" The gramophone came bumping down the hole, on the end of the rope. Tom put it carefully behind a big chest and set the needle ready on the outside edge of the record. He tied a long piece of string to the starting-switch, and then tied the other end to the rope that Andy had let down with the gramophone.
"Pull it up, Andy," he said. "But carefully, please, because the string's on the rope and we don't want to break the needle by jerking the string too hard!"
Andy drew up the rope, untied the string on the end of it, and tied it to a heavy stone for safety. Then he called to Tom, "That's done. Come along up now, Tom. Don't brush against the gramophone string more than you can help. Here's the rope. Tie it round your Waist and I'll help you up the hole by pulling—and I say, don't forget your camera!"
Tom stood up on the highest chest and began to scramble up the hole. There were plenty of rough ledges each side where he could put his feet. Andy hauled strongly on the rope, and Tom's head suddenly appeared through the hole by Andy's feet!
"Good!" said Andy. "Climb out!"
Tom climbed out. He sniffed the fresh breeze with delight, for it had been rather stuffy down in the cave. Andy undid the rope from round Tom's waist. "Now you must get down the cliff as best you can without noise," he said. "Wait for me at the edge of the rocks, won't you. I'll give you a hand over those because I know them better than you do now."
Tom went to the cliff and began to climb down. Halfway down he slipped, and kicked out quickly to prevent himself from falling. A whole shower of stones fell down the cliff. The sentry, half-dozing, shouted at once.
Andy knew it was time to pull the string that was tied to the gramophone! He jerked it. The switch slid to one side and the record began to go round on its disc. The needle ran over the record and the lullaby began to sound in the cave. "Hush! Hush! Hush!"
The sentry heard it and thought it was Tom singing. He felt satisfied that his prisoner was still in the cave, as the song went on, and settled himself down again in a comfortable position. It must have been a rabbit that sent stones down the cliff, he thought!