“Is the ‘captain’ ready yet?”
“Oh, Ferd! good Ferd! Please, please let me out!” answered a voice that thrilled old Pedro’s heart with joy.
“All right. The money first.”
“But I have no money. You must help me up!”
“Down there safe. Is you hungry?”
“No, Ferd. The food you took out of Aunt Sally’s pantry kept me from that.”
The dwarf threw himself backward, on the rocky floor above, and laughed loudly, yet his mirth was shortlived. Pedro’s hand was on his throat before a movement had been heard, and Pedro’s voice was calling into the pit:
“Here am I, Sunny Face. Wait. I come.”
During all the hours of her imprisonment, Jessica’s courage had not faltered, but, at the sound of that blessed cry, it suddenly gave way and she burst into a paroxysm of sobs and tears, which effectually prevented her hearing the struggle that ensued in the gloom between the shepherd and the hunchback. For though the lantern had not been extinguished, as it rolled from its owner’s hand, it had fallen upon its one glass side and gave no light.