My mind filled with a daring hope by this
discovery, I fastened the note to the end of the cord, weighted it with
a bunch of keys, and crept back to where I had marked the rail. Inch
by inch I payed out the line, leaning well over. At last my ears
detected the dangling of the metallic keys against glass, and, by
manipulating the rope, managed to make them sound with clear
insistence. I repeated the effort several times before there was any
response. Then the port seemed to be opened cautiously, although no
gleam of light shot forth. She had evidently extinguished her lamp
before venturing to answer the signal, but I felt her grasp on the
cord. Then it was left dangling against the closed port, leaving me to
infer that she was reading the hasty note.
I must have hung there gazing down into the black shadows for two or
three minutes, before my line was again hauled taut, but, as I
straightened up, prepared to haul up the returning message, I saw the
shadow of a man passing across the cabin below. He was already at the
foot of the companion stairs; in another minute would be on deck.
There was no time to do otherwise, and I released my grasp of the rope,
letting it drop silently into the water. I had barely turned my back
to the rail when Henley emerged within six feet of me.
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