“I’ve tumbled into a pit,” cried Nellie piteously, in muffled tones that sounded as if coming from underground. “Do take me out, please! There’s a lot of wild animals here, and they’re biting my legs—oh!”
A series of piercing shrieks followed, showing that the poor child was terribly alarmed, if not seriously hurt; and the Captain saw that no time was to be lost.
“Can you reach her, Bob?” he sang out; “or see her, eh?”
“No, I can’t get through these prickly bushes, they’re just like a wall!” replied Bob, fighting manfully through to get down to his sister’s relief. “I can’t see her a bit, either!”
“Humph!”
The Captain thought a moment, rather shirking going amongst the thorns.
“Ha, the very thing!” he exclaimed. “Hi, Rover!”
The dog, who had been barking and running here and there aimlessly, at once cocked his ears and came up to the Captain, scanning his face with eager attention.
“Fetch her out, good dog!” he cried, pointing to the spot where the broken branch of the oak-tree had given way, adding in a louder voice, “Call him, Nellie—call the dog to you, missy.”
A cry, “Here, Rover!” came from underneath the tangled mass of brushwood, borne down and partly torn away by Nellie in her fall to the depths below. “Come here, sir!”