They had procured a rope at the village, although the inhabitants insisted that no one could be found alive, as the pit, which was a disused one, was of vast depth.
"Is any one alive down there ?" the earl shouted.
"Yes, yes," a voice cried a short distance below them.

"Thank God friends have come; but help me quickly, for I cannot hold on much longer." Jack seized the rope and twisted one end round his body.

Several of the soldiers lowered him down, and some twenty feet below the edge he came upon the man who had spoken.

As he fell he had caught some bushes which grew in the side of the old pit, and having managed to find a ledge on which to place his feet, had maintained his grasp in this perilous position the whole day.

As the rope was amply strong enough to hold two, Jack clasped his arms around the man's body and called to those above to haul up.