“Certainly I will. Just you wait a while till I go down to Ike Case’s cottage for a rope.”
“Thank you; we’ll wait,” said Frank.
The old man disappeared and was gone fully half an hour, a time that to both boys seemed an age.
“Perhaps he won’t come back at all,” said Darry, after he was tired of waiting.
“Oh, I’m sure he’ll be back,” answered our hero, cheerfully, and just then the head of the old man appeared once more at the opening. He had a younger man with him.
“We brought the well rope with the bucket,” said the old man. “Just you step into the bucket one at a time, and we’ll haul you up.”
“Is the rope strong enough?” asked Darry. “I don’t want it to break when I’m almost out of the hole.”
“Oh, it’s strong enough,” answered the younger man. “We tested it before we brought it along.”
The rope with the water bucket attached was lowered to the flooring of the opening, and Darry was the first to step in. The men above hauled him up with ease, and then our hero followed.
“I can tell you I am mighty glad to get out of that mine,” said Frank, as he stepped into the open once more. “I never want to get lost in a mine again.”