The captain spoke a few words rapidly to the unseen figure at the lattice and soon a long string made of a grape vine came snaking down. It had a lump of pitch or rubber at the end, and in this the captain embedded what was, without doubt, one of the finest diamonds in the world.
“Talk about castin’ pearls before swine,” he growled as the rope was drawn upward. “But then it’s worth it. Yes, by Jim Hill, if he makes good, it’s worth it.”
The next few hours were passed in what can only be described as an agony of suspense. The chances that “red-jacket” would play them false seemed to overwhelmingly outweigh the possibilities of his making good on his word. As the time dragged slowly by, they declared again and again that they had been fooled into giving up the stone, and despair came near overmastering the younger members of the party.
But just when it appeared impossible that they could endure the suspense a minute longer, they heard the lattice-work grating being moved. Through the opening they could see the stars, and then came a rustling, grating sound and the lower end of a ladder, formed from twisted creepers, with iron-wood rungs dropped amongst them.
[CHAPTER XXVII.]
THE PROFESSOR TRIUMPHS.
Within ten minutes the last of them had mounted the ladder and gained the open night. All about them the huts of the village showed blackly in the starlight. They soon perceived that they stood at some distance from the central stone building, and that their place of captivity had been underground as they had surmised.
But although they had escaped from their prison they were still in fearful danger. Even as they waited there, a tall form, that of a sentry, strode around the corner of the building. In two bounds “red-jacket” was on him. He must have been possessed of huge strength, for the fellow went down like a nine-pin with the interpreter on top of him. When the latter arose the sentry lay quite still.
“You ain’t killed him, have you?” asked the captain as the interpreter rejoined the group.
“He says that if he has, it’ll be blamed on us,” the captain translated to his companions when the interpreter had whispered his reply.