ng."

"No, no, Tom; for goodness' sake, don't leave us!"

"Some people have a nerve," said Billy. "Fancy jumping across a
five-hundred-foot drop!"

"I dare say the gentleman did worse things in the war."

"Well, I wouldn't do it myself--not if they starred me in the bills.
It's all very well for old Isaiah. It's his job, and I wouldn't do him
out of it."

Three sides of the lift were shut in with wooden partitions, pierced
with windows for the view. The fourth side, facing the sea, was clear.
Stangate leaned as far as he could and looked upwards. As he did so
there came from above him a peculiar sonorous metallic twang, as if a
mighty harp-string had been struck. Some distance up--a hundred feet,
perhaps--he could see a long brown corded arm, which was working
furiously among the wire cordage above. The form was beyond his view,
but he was fascinated by this bare sinewy arm which tugged and pulled
and sagged and stabbed.

"It's all right," he said, and a general sigh of relief broke from his
strange comrades at his words. "There is some one above us setting
things right."

"It's old Isaiah," said Billy, stretching his neck round the corner. "I
can't see him, but it's his arm for a dollar. What's he got in his
hand? Looks like a screwdriver or something. No, by George, it's a
file."

As he spoke there came another sonorous twang from above. There was a
troubled frown upon the officer's brow.

"I say, dash it all, that's the very sound our steel hawser made when it
parted, strand by strand, at Dix-mude. What the deuce is the fellow
about? Hey, there! what are you trying to do?"

The man had ceased his work and was now slowly descending the iron
trellis.

"All right, he's coming," said Stangate to his startled companions.
"It's all right, Mary. Don't be frightened, any of you. It's absurd to
suppose he would really weaken the cord that holds us."

A pair of high boots appeared from above. Then came the leathern
breeches, the belt with its dangling tools, the muscular form, and,
finally, the fierce, swarthy, eagle face of the workman. His coat was
off and his shirt open, showing the hairy chest. As he appeared there
came another sharp snapping vibration from above. The man made his way
down in leisurely fashion, and then, balancing himself upon the
cross-girder and leaning against the side piece, he stood with folded
arms, looking from under his heavy black brows at the huddled passengers
upon the platform.