Now Benita, peeping over the edge, saw that the star of light had
vanished. His lamp was out, nor did he appear to attempt to re-light it.
They shouted down the well to him, but no answer coming, began to wind
up as fast as they were able. It was all that their united strength
could manage, and very exhausted were they when at length Jacob
reappeared at the top. At first, from the look of him they thought that
he was dead, and had he not tied himself to the chain, dead he certainly
would have been, for evidently his senses had left him long ago. Indeed,
he had fallen almost out of the seat, over which his legs hung limply,
his weight being supported by the hide rope beneath his arms which was
made fast to the chain.
They swung him in and dashed water over his face, till, to their relief,
at last he began to gasp for breath, and revived sufficiently to enable
them to half-lead and half-carry him out into the fresh air.
"What happened to you?" asked Clifford.
"Poisoned with gases, I suppose," Meyer answered with a groan, for
his head was aching sadly. "The air is often bad at the bottom of deep
wells, but I could smell or feel nothing until suddenly my senses left
me. It was a near thing--a very near thing."
Afterwards, when he had recovered a little, he told them that at one
spot deep down in the well, on the river side of it, he found a place
where it looked as though the rock had been cut away for a space of
about six feet by four, and afterwards built up again with another sort
of stone set in hard mortar or cement.
Pages:
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160