half dragged, half carried to the shaft. It was as
useless for him to struggle as it was for Nib. Both were powerless.
But Jud's efforts to free himself were so frantic that the men
laughed,--Lowrie grimly, the other two with a kind of malicious
enjoyment of the grotesqueness of the situation.

"Set him down, but keep him quiet," was the command given when they
reached the pit's side.

The next instant a dreadful cry was smothered in the boy's grappled
throat. They were leaning against the rail and holding Nib over the
black abyss.

"Wilt ta promise?" he was asked. "Tha may let him speak, Lowrie; he
canna mak' foak hear."

Nib looked down into the blackness, and broke into a terrific whine,
turning his head toward his master.

"I--I--conna promise," said Jud; but he burst into tears.

"Let th' dog go," said Lowrie.

"Try him again. Wilt ta promise, or mun we let th' dog go, lad? We're
noan goin' to do th' chap ony great harm; we're on'y goin' to play him a
trick to pay him back fur his cheek."

Jud looked at Nib.

"Lowrie said you had vitriol and knob-sticks," he faltered. "Yo' dunnat
play tricks wi' _them_."

"Yo' see how much he's heerd," said Lowrie. "He'll noan promise."

The one who held the dog was evidently losing patience.

"Say yes or no, yo' young devil," he said, and he made a threatening
gesture. "We conna stand here aw neet. Promise ta will na tell mon,
woman, nor choild, what tha heerd us say. When I say 'three,' I'll drop
th' dog. One--two--"

The look of almost human terror in Nib's eyes was too much for his
master. Desperation filled him. He could not sacrifice Nib--he could not
sacrifice the man who had been Nib's friend; but he might make a sort of
sacrifice of himself to both.

"Stop!" he cried. "I'll promise yo'"

He had saved Nib, but there was some parleying before he was set free,
notwithstanding his promise to be silent. But for the fact that he was
under the control of the others for the time being, Lowrie would have
resorted to harsher precautions; but possibly influenced by a touch
of admiration for the lad, the youngest man held out against his
companions. They wrangled together for a few minutes, and then Nib was
handed over.

"Here, cut an' run, tha young beggar," said the fellow who had stood by
him, "an' dunnot let's hear ony more on thee. If we do, it'll be worse
fur thee an' th' dog too. So look out."

Jud did not wait for a second command. The instant he felt N