They were so indistinct, they looked like one huge form.

He waved his bonnet to them with trembling hand: then he undid the silk rapidly but carefully, and made one end fast to his knife and lowered it till it ceased to draw.

Then he counted a hundred.

Then pulled the silk carefully up: it came up a little heavier.

At last he came to a large knot, and by that knot a stout whipcord was attached to the silk.