“Now then,” he said, “lanthorn here!”
“What are you going to do, father?” cried Chris anxiously.
“Pass the light along the rope till I reach the tubs, to see if there are any snakes twisted about the chain.”
“Nay, that’s my job, sir,” cried Griggs eagerly.
“We’ll go together,” said the doctor. “Every one else stand back.”
The next minute Chris and Ned stood anxiously watching the light of the lanthorn, which was made to run along the rope and the ground till it played only upon the two kegs, which looked dull and indistinct by the shadowy figures which could be dimly-seen.
“Look out, sir; there’s one!” shouted Griggs out of the gloom, and the lanthorn seemed to make a sudden jump.
So did Chris’s heart at the thought of the danger to which his father might be exposed.
The next moment the boy’s pulsations seemed to have ceased, but only for a heavy throbbing to set in, before he gave vent to a low gasp of relief. For the doctor’s voice came clearly to them in the grateful word, “Crushed!”
“It’s all right, sir,” said Griggs loudly then. “I’ve cut through him twice, and he has dropped off. Haul away there and pull ’em close up.”