"You look older today than you did yesterday," the latter said, as he held his hand and gazed into Dick's face. "I fancy that neither of us has had any sleep to speak of. As for myself, I have not closed an eye."
"Nor did I, Father, until day began to break. Now please, let us talk over our plan of escape first, for we may be interrupted at any moment."
"Right you are, lad. Does your friend here speak English? For I have never got to be a good hand at their lingo. I want to thank him, too, but as you say, time is precious, and we must postpone that."
"He understands it, Father, and can talk it pretty fairly. We have been constantly together for nearly two years.
"Now, in the first place, is there any place where we can get down from the top here, with the aid of a rope?"
"It would be a pretty tough job, anyhow, but at the farthest end of the rock is a place where it goes sharp down, as if cut with a knife. That would be the best place to try. I take it to be about two hundred feet deep. Beyond, the ground seems to slope regularly away. If I could have got a rope I should have tried it, but they are pretty scarce commodities up here--in fact, I have never seen a piece twenty feet long since we came. What sort of rope have you got?"
Dick opened the front of his garment, and showed the rope round his body. Captain Holland gave a low whistle of dismay.
"I should not like to trust a child with that thing, Dick, much less a grown man. It is no thicker than a flag halliard."
"It is thin, Father, but there is no fear as to its strength. I tested every yard of it, and found it would bear six hundred weight."
"Well, that is ample; but how is one to hold on to a cord like that?"