Now only could he see the wall of the chasm, and the flint-stones glistening in it like eyes. Below all was impenetrable darkness.
'Have no fear,' said Winefred cheerfully, and began the descent.
Jack watched the light as it danced down. It was seen here, then there, as she circumvented some fallen block that had lodged and wedged itself in the chasm. Then boldly she mounted another, and leaped down from it. Next moment she was struggling through soft chalk like a snowdrift. Then a shoot of stones was sent bounding down the incline, dislodged by her feet. Jack dared not lean over lest he should occasion some of the friable chalk of the edge to give way and fall upon her.
The star diminished in size. Now it was invisible, then only discernible by the faint glow it cast on the walls. Anon it flashed forth once more. It seemed to Jack as though an hour had passed before the light became stationary, and a voice, confused by the echo of the sides, came up to him, 'I am at the bottom,—lower the kegs.'
'Stand back,' shouted Jack in reply, 'lest the falling stones crush you!'
'I will go to the mouth,' answered Winefred. 'But I leave the light where it is. Lower at once.'
'No,' called Jack; 'not so, lest the light be extinguished. Put the light on one side out of risk.'
Winefred guessed rather than heard what he said, and she placed the lantern in the cave she had observed on her ascent. By this means it was sheltered from stones that might be dislodged and fall. But where it was, it cast a halo upon the white wall opposite.
As soon as Jack conceived that Winefred was beyond reach, he bade the men pass a rope through the loops attached to the kegs, one after the other, and let them down into the abyss. When the slackening of the cord assured him that a cask was lodged, then he cast down one end and drew the rope up to lower another in a similar manner. He would not venture to do this with more than one man at a time to stand on the edge and let down the butts. The operation was consequently somewhat slow, nevertheless it was in time brought to a conclusion, and then he told the men that they must descend at the extremity of the rift, reach the shore, and make the best of their way home. By means of the ferryboat all could cross. On the morrow, at about the same hour, they would return and move the goods and dispose of them as seemed most advisable, after he had consulted with his father.
The men could descend only singly, lest one following another should send down stones on him who preceded him.