They reached the well in a very few minutes, and he at once set to work to descend. Cole formed a sling at one end of the rope and passed it about Tom’s body. The boy had the masked lantern fastened to his belt; the spade and bar were lying upon the low curb of the well; he was just about to swing himself down into the black hole when suddenly there came a low, sullen shock as of distant thunder, followed by another and another. The eyes of the boy and the giant went instantly in the direction of the harbor; a flare of light ran along the sky, and immediately vanished. “The British!” said Tom. “That was their big guns that spoke; and they are firing rockets, too. They mean to attack the fort in the darkness. We are none too soon, Cole; for there is no knowing what will happen now.” Cole’s strong arms lowered him slowly into the well, and he soon found the place he sought. A large and almost square stone had fallen out and behind where it had lain in the lining of the shaft the earth could be seen. Tom carefully pried out some few other and smaller stones with the bar; these he passed up to Cole, after which he set to work with the spade to dig an aperture sufficiently large to hold the sacks of gold. As he worked he could hear the steady growl of the distant guns; above his head he could see but a small, round spot in the sky through the shaft of the well; and every little while this small, round spot would be lit up by a sudden glare of rockets sent hissing into the heavens as signals to the captains of the attacking fleet. In about half an hour Tom’s task was completed. Cole was signaled and hauled him out of the well. “Now,” said Tom, “let’s get the bags down. It will be daybreak, almost, when we finish with this matter; and we want to be done with it before any of the hands are stirring.” When they reached Mr. Deering’s office, Tom was about to open the chest once more and take the bags out for transportation to the orchard. But a gesture from Cole stopped him. With an ease that made even Tom’s eyes open in wonder, and the lad was accustomed to Cole’s exhibitions of tremendous strength, the giant slave hoisted the chest upon his back, and motioned to his master to go before him and open the doors. It was a dead weight and sufficient to crush an ordinary man; but Cole carried it downstairs, through the wide hall, out into the garden, and thence to the orchard, where he lowered it to the ground with scarcely a labored breath. “Cole,” said Tom Deering in astonishment, “I believe you are a second cousin to an elephant! You’re growing stronger every day!” The great slave grinned; he took a childish pleasure in his enormous power, and it made him happy when notice was taken of it by Tom, or his father. The sacks were now taken out of the chest, and once more the lad was swung down into the well, carrying several of them in his arms. Quite a number of trips were necessary before the gold was all stored in the hollow behind the stones.