“Yes, yes, she’s better now.—Susan, what’s the matter?”
“Oh, oh, ma’am! the well, the well—”
“The well! Something wrong there, I suppose: well, I will go and see.”
The farmer trotted off to the well; he perceived the bucket was at the bottom and all the rope out; he looked about him, and then he looked into the well. Jack, who had become very impatient, had been looking up some time for the assistance which he expected would have come sooner; the round face of the farmer occasioned a partial eclipse of the round disc which bounded his view, just as one of the satellites of Jupiter sometimes obscures the face of the planet round which he revolves.
“Here I am,” cried Jack, “get me up quick, or I shall be dead;” and what Jack said was true, for he was quite done up by having been so long down, although his courage had not failed him.
“Dang it, but there be somebody fallen into the well,” cried the farmer; “no end to mishaps this day. Well, we must get a Christian out of a well afore we get a bull out of a saw-pit, so I’ll go call the men.”
In a very short time the men who were assembled round the saw-pit were brought to the well.
“Down below there, hold on now.”
“Never fear,” cried Jack.
Away went the winch, and once more Jack had an extended horizon to survey. As soon as he was at the top, the men hauled him over the bricks and laid him down upon the ground, for Jack’s strength had failed him.