They always carried ropes with them. "We can do nothing without a rope," they would say. But the ropes had been dropped, of course, on the turf above, and the emergency which had made all hurry into the vault had caused them to neglect providing for an easy ascent again. The only thing to do was for two to hoist a third on their shoulders so that he could get his hands on the aperture and thus clamber out. Lowrie was chosen as the messenger to the outer world, and Harry said to him when shoving him aloft, "Drop us one rope at once, but fix the other to a boulder and slide down by it. That will give us help in scrambling out of here."
The rope was soon in their hands, and Yaspard, seizing the end, tied it round his waist, while Harry instructed him how to strike a light when lowered, and what signals to make to those above. In breathless excitement they stood around that gruesome hole, and slowly lowered their young leader into its dark and gaping jaws. Lower, lower; and the rope was almost all paid out when a sharp jerk told (as agreed upon) that Yaspard had reached the bottom.
"Not so deep as I feared," Harry whispered with a sigh of relief.
Then there came a sudden flare of light, which showed that Yaspard was trying to illumine the scene; but it was extinguished again directly. Again and again he tried, but evidently in vain. Then came darkness and silence as before. But after a little time of fearful suspense the rope was jerked twice, and Yaspard was hauled up again.
"What of Tom?" Harry asked as soon as Yaspard's head appeared in sight; but Yaspard did not reply until he was standing beside them. Then he said, "He is lying there senseless, but he is alive."
"Oh, your hands!" Bill screamed, and all eyes turned on Yaspard's hands, which were red with blood.
"Tom is badly hurt. I put my hands on his face and chest," explained too surely that horrible sign. "There is no keeping a match or candle alight down there. The wind is rushing through it as if it were a funnel," Yaspard went on, "and I can't think how he is to be got out."
"Bill," said Harry, with the imperious decision which he always assumed in any emergency, where one cool head was worth a score of able undirected hands, "Bill, you run for your life to the boat again. Bring the tar-pot and a stick or two, the potato bag, and a towel, and a can of water; some more rope, if you can find it handy. Gloy, go with him to help carry; and mind, both of you, Tom's life is possibly depending on your speed. Don't forget anything. Keep your wits clear."
The two little chaps were off without a moment's delay, scudding across the Stack, and too engrossed with their errand and its urgency to note the rising storm, which had set the white horses rampant on the deep and driven the sea-birds to the Stack in clamouring crowds.
Meanwhile Harry said, "Undo that rope, Yaspard. I will go down this time. I can probably be of more use to him than you. You can follow with those things when the chaps return. And look you, Lowrie, be canny in lowering him, and in your management of the rope. See that the youngsters are careful; for Yaspard and I will send Tom up first if possible. You know what to do with the tar and sticks, Yaspard?"