Page:Young Hunters in Porto Rico.djvu/196

192 spot was selected, where the rope might run without scraping, and the Englishman climbed down over the edge.

"Now, lower away," he called out. "But go slow, and don't let me slip away from you."

He had a torch in one hand, while with the other he kept himself from striking on the various sharp projections which he encountered. He went down twenty, thirty, forty feet, and then to the very end of the line.

"A little lower!" he cried, as those above stopped and held fast to several knots previously inserted in the rope.

"Can't put out any more," called down old Jacob. "Ain't ye reached the bottom?"

"No; it's about ten or fifteen feet below this point."

"Can ye see anything?"

"See a lot of loose rock and—Yes, a corner of a box. I think the fall broke the chest all to pieces."

"We'll haul ye up and git a longer rope," returned the Yankee tar. "He's found the treasure right enough," he added, to the boys gathered around him.

It was no easy task to bring Robert Menden up to the flooring again, but at last it was accomplished, and the Englishman untied himself, none the worse for his trip to the region below.