"
"Help me out, quick! Here, catch this rope." Johnnie managed to
fling the coil within reach of his little friend and a moment
later he had hoisted himself from that pit of tragedy.
XXVII
MORIN, THE FISHERMAN
When Rosa Varona regained consciousness sufficiently to understand
what had happened she proved herself a person of no little self-
control. She went to pieces for a moment, as was only natural, but
O'Reilly soon succeeded in calming her. Nor did he have to remind
her twice that this was no time for weakness or hysteria; it was
she, in fact, who first voiced the fear that Cobo dead was
scarcely less of a menace than Cobo alive.
"What are we going to do with him?" she inquired.
Jacket, too, appreciated the dangers of the situation. "We must
get rid of him quickly," said he, "for his men are close by; he
will be missed and there will be a search." "I don't intend to
make him a present of that treasure," O'Reilly said, grimly. "It
is our only salvation."
"But how are we going to hide him?" Jacket inquired. "One might as
well try to conceal a church; oxen couldn't hoist him out of that
hole."
"Precisely! He has made our work easy for us. We can't take more
than a small part of the money with us, anyhow; the rest will have
to lie here until the war is over. Well! We shall leave Cobo on
guard over what remains!"
Jacket was immensely pleased with this idea, once he had grasped
it.
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