"Praise and glory be! I did think I'd never see daylight again. Have 'ee got a true and proper bridge?"
"You'll see. Run back to the cave and bring two staves and our guns."
They waited at the brink of the shaft until Sam reappeared.
"Now drive the staves into the floor," cried Dick.
"I can't. It be hard stone."
"Well then, go back to the cave again and bring some of those big pieces of rock on the floor."
Sam went obediently. Instructed by Dick, he arranged a number of the rocks, four or five feet deep, to form a sort of platform.
"Now knot this rope to the staves," said Dick, flinging it across. "Put it behind the rocks, and pile more rocks on top to hold it down."
While this was being done, he made the other end of the double rope fast to a large boulder near the head of the shaft.
"Now, Sam, all you have to do is to clasp the rope and let yourself down. We will do the rest."