"I'm glad of that."
The boys looked timidly down the hole, and crouched closer to the wall. Far below, through the network of crossed beams, they could see the eddying flood. It looked immeasurably distant.
"You don't expect us to go down there, I hope," queried Clay.
"No, but I intend you to lower me through," answered Ned. "If I can reach one of those rafters I will be all right. It won't be a difficult matter to get out on land. Then I will hurry around to the door, liberate you fellows, while Moxley is sleeping, seize his gun—and then away for freedom."
Ned drew a long breath at the prospect.
"Now this is what I want you to do," he resumed in a calmer tone. "If the rafters are too far below me you must let me down to them by one of your coats. Brace yourselves now so you can stand the strain."
The boys obeyed and Randy stripped off his coat in case it should be needed.
Then Ned lowered himself at one end of the hole, and swung clear down.
He pulled himself up, and clung by his elbows. "No good," he whispered hoarsely. "The nearest rafter is a foot below. Let me have the coat. It will be safer than trusting to your hands. I might drag you down with me."
The three boys braced themselves around the hole, and took a firm grasp of the upper part of the coat.