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Matthew had hold of Greathouse&039;s cloak He refused to let go His feet searched for a place on the wall behind and below hiive him some support, but he found what felt only like slippery moss In spite of that, he pulled Greathouse&039;s face up out of the water
"Thattheleft of me"
"Do tell," followed the response, and when Greathouse let out an explosive cough the blood flew into Matthew&039;s face
"Get your cloak off It&039;s dragging you down"
Greathouse&039;s face again started to sube When the water reached the rasped his hair and yanked his head back
"Keep your chin up" Matthew realized it sounded absolutely stupid, but so be it "Feel around behind you, try to find a place to put your feet"
"One thing at a time Daht Matthew could feel the h, so even in Greathouse&039;s anguish and shock he wasthe effort to live So much so that an elbow came up fro the book on his own efforts When the stars had dissolved, he heard Greathouse say, "Soed in"
It was all Matthew could hope for He went about getting the cloak off Greathouse, and then pushed it aside They were in close quarters The rope floated about them, like a serpent&039;s coils Matthew took off his own cloak, sinking into the cold eundy-red coat ca on him, but he retained the waistcoat if only for its war him down His new daer blinded him It wasn&039;t fair, to buy new boots and then have to let them drop into the murk of a backwoods well!
Steady, he told hier had taken a turn toward panic He looked up, at the peaked roof above Twenty feet to the top of the well at least twenty He was getting truly cold now, and starting to shiver
Greathouse coughed again He put a hand to his mouth and then blinked heavily as he took account of the red sood," he croaked "Matthew listen "
"No tis, having to put forth a real effort, and he feared that if Greathouse fell off the slio down for the last time
"Said I " Greathouse stopped, sed blood, and tried again In the diray His eyes were tortured slits "Said I could handle hi Sorry"
Matthew had no idea how to respond, for he was hiiveness all that could wait, he decided in the next few seconds He had to get his boots off before they drowned hiled with one of the blasted impediments, freed his foot, and then had to coht that by the time he&039;d finished it would have been wiser to leave them on
Greathouse&039;s face was still above water, his ar rock wherever they could find a purchase His eyes were closed, his breathing precarious
Matthew peered upward again God, it was a long way! If he was going to do soth, his very lifeforce and will to live, was staggering away fro, Greathouse suddenly fell from his precipice and the water closed over his head at once Matthew had grasped his coat and was trying to pull hiain, and this time was helped by the man himself, who kicked and splashed and reached and scratched for a fingerhold on the wall at last Greathouse was still, having secured a hold on the edges of two rocks that barely jutted forward enough for the balance of a worm
Matthew once more took stock of the well, and the distance up The shovel, he thought Sunk to the bottoht he find iti
"I&039; under," Matthew said, and added, "On purpose Don&039;t let go"
Greathouse didn&039;t answer, but he was shivering from either the effort, the cold, or both Matthew took a breath and then exhaled it, the better to sink the faster He pushed hi toward the botto was black He felt about, searching left and right, also striking out with his legs Deeper still he went Suddenly his stockinged feet touched stones His search beca to convulse for air He feared he couldn&039;t surface and have enough energy left to repeat this descent
His left elbow hit so in that direction, his hands found the wall, and scrabbling across it his fingers discovered the shovel, which had sunk iron-tip first and was leaning there as if ready to be used by the gravedigger Except in this case, Matthew hoped, it ht offer a reprieve from the boneyard
He seized the shovel, pushed off from the bottoasped for breath and shook the water fro on with one hand In this state of eht be said-and he knew exactly what he needed to locate He found a suitable crevice between rocks a few inches above the waterline, and, holding the shovel at a doard angle over his head, thrust the iron tip into it Then he brought the handle sharply dohich effectively jaer than the well&039;s diarasped the shovel at its th, and it held firrip onto, if he could be coer
Matthew grasped Greathouse&039;s free hand and guided it to the shovel, where he was gratified to see the ht just didn&039;t break the shaft at its e it, but it was do or die He said, "Co to a child, and Greathouse allowed Matthew to guide his other hand to the e, nor did it snap in two Greathouse hung froht
It was a tentative victory, at best Matthew took hold of the rope floating about theone under, but the wooden rod, easily as thick as a sth, was still afloat He i the rope from the rod, as a dollop of tar had been used to seal the knot He had no choice; if he was to carry the rope to the top and tie it to the beams that supported the peaked roof above, which would be the only way to bring Greathouse up, he also would have to bear the rod If he could get out, hi water, he looped the rope twice around his chest and under his arms "Hudson!" he said "Can you hold oni"
There was no answer, but Greathouse gave a low, gutteral grunt and that was enough for Matthew
"I&039; to climb up" He had purposefully left out the words try to Failure at this ed, as much for Greathouse as for his own resolve Then he pressed his feet against both sides of the well, his toes seeking purchase aidly outward to secure a grip by the force of friction He pulled hian crawling up the center like a spider dragging its oeb
He got about six feet up when his right foot slipped, his raw hands scraped across the stones, and he fell into the water again, perilously close to co to be done but start anew, as quickly as he could before some more rational part of his mind told him it was impossible
This time he didn&039;t make it quite six feet before he slipped and fell, and his palms left blood on the stones He treaded water for ahis hands open and shut, and then he pushed upward yet again
Slowly, slowly, the spider ascended Pal a sht a place to apply pressure, and all the time the tension of ave the spider its balance Upward and upward, carrying the rope that itself was pulled at by the water below, and then a few seconds to rest, but always keeping the s taut Upward oncenew purchase where the edge of a stone ht be only a half-inch wide yet felt under his flesh like the edge of an axe
Matthew lost his grip and fell again
He scraped down three feet before he could right hiuish, and he squeezed his eyes shut until the wave of pain had crashed over him In the echo of his ownonto the shovel, about ten feet below hio
as he continued upward, his arht very clearly of Berry Grigsby Of when he&039;d fallen in Chapel&039;s vineyard, with the hawks and the killers co after them, how Berry-herself disheveled, terrified and bloodied-had shouted Get up! and paused in her own flight to help hiht He could use her kick, about now