“Why you are all wet!” cried Ned. “Did you fall in the water?”
“No, I jumped,” came the tense whisper. “What shall I do to let you out?”
“Can you get the key to this place?” asked Ned. “If you can, sneak into the house, and open the door, let us out and we’ll call help, and try to prevent the men from changing the light.”
“Where is my uncle?”
“He was called away, by a false telephone message, we believe, to see his sick sister! The men put up a game to get him away! Quick Jess, or it will be too late!”
Ned saw the girl step back out of the path of illumination and gaze upward. As she did so she uttered a half suppressed scream.
“They are changing the light!” she uttered in a shrill whisper. “And there’s a storm about to break! What shall I do?”
As she spoke there came a low rumble of thunder off to the west and a flash of lightning.
“Let us out if possible!” whispered Ned. “They are so busy with the light they may not notice you. Get the keys and let us out!”