And the two men gazed fascinated at what it revealed to them.
The chest was there, as Jed had said; and beneath it, crushed against the rock, lay a man.
[CHAPTER XXVIII]
JED STARTS FOR HOME
Only for an instant did Jed Hopkins and Jack Welsh stand motionless there on the edge of the pit, staring down at the gruesome sight the burning cotton disclosed to them. Then Jed sprang erect, his lips compressed, caught up the rope, and rapidly made a noose in one end of it.
“I’ll go down,” he said. “I’m th’ lightest, an’ I guess you kin handle me all right. Stand well back from th’ edge an’ git a good hold. Let it play over th’ rock here where it’s smooth. Ready?”
“All right,” Jack answered, taking a turn of the rope around his arm and bracing himself for the weight.
Jed sat down at the edge of the pit, placed one foot in the noose he had made, tested it, and then swung himself off. Jack paid out the line slowly and carefully, so that it might not get beyond his control. At the end of a moment, the line slackened, and Jack, looking down into the pit, saw his companion bending over the ghastly figure crushed against the floor.