“Haven’t you got her?” he shouted.
“No; I can’t reach. I’m on the other side,” came up.
“Oh, I see!” said Josh; and stooping down so as to keep the rope tight to the iron bar, he crept round to the opposite side of the shaft-hole, and held the rope close to the edge.
“There you are, lad,” he said. “Got her?”
No answer.
“Have you got her?”
“N–no! I can’t reach.”
Josh Helston uttered a low whistle, and the skin of his forehead was full of wrinkles and puckers.
“Look out, then!” he shouted; “I’ll make her sway. Look out and catch her as she comes to you.”
He altered his position and began swinging the rope to and fro, so that as he looked down the void he could see that it struck first one side and then the other of the rocky hole; but there was no sudden tug from below, and he snouted down again: