"Who dere?" cried the General.
"O, Prime, help us out of this tarnation hole," groaned Basset.
"Onpossible! can dis be you, Missa Basset?" inquired Primus, peering over the edge of the pit. "How come you dere?"
"Don't ask no questions, now, though, I guess, you know as well as me."
"His head turn wid de scare, probumbly," soliloquized Primus, loud enough to be heard by the captive. "I curus to larn how you fall in. Ebberybody know dis hole, Missa Basset."
"Haul me out, and I'll let you know."
There was something in the tone of voice that did not at all please the General, so looking around, and observing no one in sight, for it was a lonely place, and having all the advantage on his side, he resolved to parley, and secure satisfactory terms before he delivered the prisoner.
"I bery sorry for you, Missa Basset," he said, "and if you wait awhile, I go to de village to git a rope to haul you out."
But this proposition was far from suiting the constable. Now that assistance was near at hand, he dreaded to lose it out of sight or hearing. He knew there was no necessity for procuring any rope, and feared that if Primus put his threatened plan into execution, he would bring along with him a rabble of men and boys, to jeer at and ridicule his sufferings. This now seemed worse than all he had already endured; he was, therefore, willing to make any compromise to avert the disaster.
"Don't go, don't go, Prime," begged the constable. "Just give us your hand, and pull us out of this infarnal place. There's no need of any rope."