e latter said, as he
held his hand and gazed into Dick's face. "I fancy that neither of us
has had any sleep to speak of. As for myself, I have not closed an
eye."

"Nor did I, Father, until day began to break. Now please, let us talk
over our plan of escape first, for we may be interrupted at any
moment."

"Right you are, lad. Does your friend here speak English? For I have
never got to be a good hand at their lingo. I want to thank him, too,
but as you say, time is precious, and we must postpone that."

"He understands it, Father, and can talk it pretty fairly. We have
been constantly together for nearly two years.

"Now, in the first place, is there any place where we can get down
from the top here, with the aid of a rope?"

"It would be a pretty tough job, anyhow, but at the farthest end of
the rock is a place where it goes sharp down, as if cut with a knife.
That would be the best place to try. I take it to be about two hundred
feet deep. Beyond, the ground seems to slope regularly away. If I
could have got a rope I should have tried it, but they are pretty
scarce commodities up here--in fact, I have never seen a piece twenty
feet long since we came. What sort of rope have you got?"

Dick opened the front of his garment, and showed the rope round his
body. Captain Holland gave a low whistle of dismay.

"I should not like to trust a child with that thing, Dick, much less a
grown man. It is no thicker than a flag halliard."

"It is thin, Father, but there is no fear as to its strength. I tested
every yard of it, and found it would bear six hundred weight."

"Well, that is ample; but how is one to hold on to a cord like that?"

"That is just what we want you to tell us, Father. There must be some
way of managing it, if one could but hit upon it."

"Yes, that is so, lad," the sailor said thoughtfully. "I will think it
over. Anyhow, I think I could lower you both down, and by knotting it
I might get hold enough to come down after you; but even the knots
would be precious small."

"One might get over that, Father, by fastening a short stick across,
every five or six feet; or every two or three feet, if you like."

"Good, Dick. That would prevent one's coming down with a run,
certainly, and by keeping it between one's legs, one could always get
a rest. Yes, that will do, lad, if I can think of nothing better.
There are a lot of spears stowed away, in the room adjoining mine. If
we were to cut them up into