“A file!”
“Yes; there’s sure to be a tool-shed round the back there somewhere. All these cockies does a bit o’ tinkerin’. You go round and see if you kin pinch one.”
Tom waited anxiously for his mate to return, and when at last Dave announced that he had got a file, the prisoner’s heart leaped.
“Git to it!” he urged in an excited whisper. “Git to it as quick as you can! Pick the thinnest link, an’ git to it! Don’t make any more row than a dead snake, but ’urry up!”
Dave got to it.
He worked away as rapidly and noiselessly as possible encouraged by frequent whispered inquiries and admonitions from inside.
The report that one side of the link was filed through caused Tom to remark emphatically, in a subdued voice, that Dave had the makings of a true pirate in him.
He also implied that his mate was destined to do great things in the business.
Thus encouraged, Dave worked on till the other side of the link gave way.
The chain was removed, the shutter opened, and Tom climbed out of the window in his shirt.