Five minutes later the rescuer reached the foot of the shaft. He stood for a moment with a miner's lamp lifted above his head and peered into the gloom.
"Where away, Jack?"
The man was Ned Kilmeny. He and Lord Farquhar had returned to the hotel just after dinner. The captain had insisted—all the more because there was some danger in it—that he should be the man lowered to the aid of his cousin.
"Bring that breakfast?" Jack snapped, testily.
"Yes, old man. It's waiting up above. Brought some soup down with me."
"I ordered it two hours ago. What's been keeping you? I'm going to complain of the service."
The captain saw at once that Jack was lightheaded and he humored him.
"Yes, I would. Now drink this soup."
The imprisoned man drained the bucket to the last drop.
Ned loosened the rope from his own body and fastened it about that of his cousin. He gave the signal and Jack was hauled very carefully to the surface in such a way as not to collide with the jammed timbers near the top. Colter and Bleyer lifted the highgrader over the edge of the well, where he collapsed at once into the arms of his friend.