ut
such assistance. Indeed, to any one who looked casually over the
top, the descent appeared absolutely impossible.

At the top of their speed, the lads ran to the spot at which the
descent had to be made. The rope was hidden close at hand. John
slipped the noose at the end over his shoulders. Jonas twisted the
rope once round a stunted tree, which grew close by, and allowed it
to go out gradually. As soon as the strain upon it ceased, and he
knew John was upon the ledge, he loosened the rope and dropped the
end over; and then began, himself, to descend, his bare feet and
hands clinging to every inequality, however slight, in the rock.

He presently stood by the side of John. The latter had coiled up
the rope, and laid it by him; and had then thrown himself down, and
was sobbing bitterly. Jonas sat down quietly beside him, till he
had recovered his composure.

"It is no use fretting," he said, philosophically. "There's no one
you care about, particularly, up there; and I am sure there's no
one I care about--only I should like to have peeped in, and have
seen her face, when the Romans burst open the door. I don't suppose
she was very sorry, though, for it will be better to be a Roman
slave than to be going through what they have been, for the last
month."

"It is horrible!" John said, "Horrible! However, Jonas, let us
thank God for having thus preserved our lives, when all besides are
in such terrible danger of death."

For a time, the two lads sat silent. John was the first to speak.

"I am thankful," he said, "that, owing to our being down the face
of the rock, the sound is carried away above our heads, and we can
hear but little of what is going on there. It seems a confusion of
sounds, and comes to us rather as an echo from the hills, yonder,
than directly from above."

Sometimes, indeed, thrilling screams and shouts were heard but, for
the most part, the sounds were so blended together that they could
not be distinguished one from another. As soon as the mist cleared
off, the lads lay down, as far back from the ledge as they could
get.

"We must not lift up a head, today," John said. "The guards below,
and on the hills, will have their eyes fixed on the rock, on the
lookout for fugitives and, until nighttime, we must not venture to
sit up. Fortunately, that outer edge of the shelf is a good deal
higher than it is, back here; and I don't think that even those on
the mountain, opposite, could see us as we