"'Cuz Ah knows Polly and Miss Nolla'll get word to Mis'r Brews'er an'
he'll know what to do fer us." So he sat and waited.
It's all well enough to say, "Oh, he wouldn't do anything else. Any one
could have waited!" But how many would have waited in that same
situation, without a qualm of fear, or without doubting the simple
assurance that the master of the ranch would know best what to do to
help?
As if to reward this faith, Jeb soon heard voices shouting back and
forth above his head, and after a time, he saw the noose of a stout rope
falling down in his direction.
He grinned. "Ah never thought of _that_!" murmured he.
"Jeb," came the deep tones of Mr. Brewster from above, "try to fix this
safely around you, and then see if there is anything down there that you
can do. Shout up if you want help, and we will try to let another man
down to work with you."
Jeb soon had the rope about his body, and feeling free to dig, went to
work to pull the unconscious man out of the saddle. The side that the
dead horse had fallen upon pinned the man's one leg down so securely
that Jeb could not manage to extricate it without help. So he held on
to the body he had thus far brought out from the shale, and then called
up to his master.
"Ah cain't git his left laig out from the sturrup! This dead hoss is too
heavy fer me to shove over. Ef some one'll come down an' use a crow-bar
Ah reckon we-all kin manage it all right."
With all the tension and doubt of being of any use in this accident, Mr.
Brewster could not help thinking of Jeb's way of asking assistance--as
if he was in the kitchen of the house and told Sary to come downstairs
to entertain him.
Another man was lowered by means of a second rope, and as he came
opposite the dead horse, he called a halt on the pulley above. With his
crow-bar, he worked just as carefully as Jeb had done in loosening the
shale about the body. But the moment Jeb found he could extract the
crushed foot from the side that had been buried in the stone, the other
man ceased prodding, as one little prod too many might turn the whole
loose lava upon them again.
"Lower another rope fer the stranger!" shouted the hired man. And soon
the limp body was drawn slowly up to safety.
"What about the other one, Jeb?" shouted Mr. Brewster.
"Reckon he went on down, 'cuz his hoss is down thar. Shall Ah go on down
and see?"
"No! we-all can get down from the Devil's Causeway, without taking any
risks on this loose wall. Better see if you-all can find any papers or
wallet in the panniers of that horse."
Jeb then felt and brought forth a fine leather bag shaped like a
knap-sack. But he was not aware that most lawyers and professional men
in cities use similar bags. Then the word was given to hoist, and both
men were soon up beside the unconscious stranger.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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