immy and I hauled, and somehow or another we got Jack Penny up, choking
and sneezing, so that he was obliged to lie down amongst the bushes, and
I was afraid he would be heard, till I saw that we were separated from
the savages by a huge mass of stony slope.

Two of the black bearers came next easily enough, and then the scarf had
to be lowered down to its utmost limits.

I knew why, and watched the proceedings with the greatest concern as
Jimmy and one of the blacks reached down into the smoky rift and held
the rope at the full extent of their arms.

"Now!" said the doctor's voice, and the two hardy fellows began to draw
the scarf, with its weight coming so easily that I knew the doctor and
one of the blacks must be lifting the wounded man below.

Poor fellow, he must have suffered the most intense agony, but he did
not utter a sigh. Weak as he was he was quite conscious of his
position, and helped us by planting his feet wherever there was a
projection in the rift, and so we hauled him up and laid him on the sand
among the bushes, where he could breathe, but where he fainted away.

The rest easily followed, but not until the doctor had sent up every
weapon and package through the smoke. Then came his turn, but he made
no sign, and in an agony of horror I mastered my dread, and, seizing the
scarf, lowered myself down into the heat and smoke.

It was as I feared; he had fainted, and was lying beneath the opening.

My hands trembled so that I could hardly tie a knot, but knowing, as I
did, how short the scarf was, I secured it tightly round one of his
wrists and called to them to haul just as Jimmy was coming down to my
help.

He did not stop, but dropped down beside me, and together we lifted the
fainting man, called to them to drag, and he was pulled up.

"Here, ketch hold," came from above the next moment in Jack Penny's
voice, and to my utter astonishment down came the end of the scarf at
once, long before they could have had time to untie it from the doctor's
wrist.

"Up, Jimmy!" I cried, as I realised that it was the other end Jack
Penny had had the _nous_ to lower at once.

"No: sha'n't go, Mass Joe Carstairs."

"Go on, sir," I cried.

"No sha'n't! Debble--debble--debble!" he cried, pushing me to the hole.

To have gone on fighting would have meant death to both, for the savages
were yelling outside and piling on the bushes and fern fronds till they
roared.

I caught the scarf then, and was h