Endless ages dragged on, it seemed to her, as she hung there. Would this suspense never end? Had anything happened to José? Had he been killed, too?
At last, when her hopes had almost ebbed away, she felt the bag moving upward. Actually going up now. As she neared the top and drew in deep breaths of the fresh air, a great wave of gratitude swept over her.
Once safely out on the ground, she began feeling her way through the darkness toward the light on her left. José hurried up just then with a lantern in his hand.
“Tell me about Manuel—he is not dead, is he?” she asked him quickly.
“I think he is. He look dead when I see him,” José answered brokenly. “That wicked Luis—he knock him down. I catch Luis and tie him to a tree.” He gestured to the right.
“Luis! That miner Mr. Eldridge discharged for stealing?”
“Yes.”
“But why did he want to hurt Manuel? Manuel didn’t discharge him.”
“Manuel tell him to keep away.” José went on to explain that Luis had thrown a crowbar back of the switchboard, so the malacate would not work, and that when Manuel had tried to grab him Luis had knocked him down. There was a triumphant tone in his voice as he added, “I catch Luis. I fix him.”
“How did it happen that you came up here? You didn’t come with us.”