"Bud will pull you up. Good luck," he whispered.
"Are you going to stay down here?" she whispered back.
"Yes, I must. Hurry!" He gave the rope two jerks, and it at once began
to tighten, and Stella's feet left the ground as she slowly ascended
skyward.
Ted, concealed against the wall back of the tent, saw her go up and up.
She was more than halfway to the top when an old Indian woman crawled
out of the tent, and, casting her eyes aloft, saw Stella.
A sudden scream rang through the hole. It was the Indian's warning. The
rope began to go faster, and before the sleepy men in the hole had been
able to sit up and rub their eyes, Ted saw Stella reach the top and
disappear over its edge.
But the old Indian woman had run among the men crying out something in
her native tongue. Evidently she was telling of the escape of Stella,
for in an instant all sleep vanished and the place was full of men
running about or staring up at the edge of the wall over which Stella
had gone.
Then Shan Rhue came forth, swearing horribly.
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