“Wonder if they can see us as plainly as we see them,” Jim said.
“We’ll have callers here presently if they can,” Desmond said. “That, at least, is certain. Better come in, Jim.”
Jim was looking at the great sails, and then at the rope that moored them.
“Wait half a minute,” he said.
He dived into the mill, and returned almost instantly with a small coil of rope.
“I noticed this when we came up,” he said. “It didn’t seem long enough to be any use by itself, but if we tie it to this mooring-rope it might be long enough.”
“To reach the ground from here?” Desmond asked him in astonishment. “Never! You’re dreaming, Jim.”
“Not from here, of course,” Jim said. “But from the end of the sail.”
“The sail!” Desmond echoed.
“If we tie it to the end of the sail’s rope, and let the mill go, we can swing out one at a time,” Jim said. “Bit of a drop at the bottom, of course, but I don’t think it would be too much, if we wait till our sail points straight down.”