There was no bucket at the end of the windlass
chain, but there was a big hook that at one time
was used to hold a bucket. Shaggy let down this
hook, dragged it around on the bottom and then
pulled it up. An old hoopskirt came with it, and
Betsy laughed and threw it away. The thing
frightened Hank, who had never seen a hoopskirt
before, and he kept a good distance away from it.
Several other objects the Shaggy Man captured
with the hook and drew up, but none of these was
important.
"This well seems to have been the dump for
all the old rubbish in the country," he said,
letting down the hook once more. "I guess I've
captured everything now. No--the hook has caught
again. Help me, Betsy! Whatever this thing is,
it's heavy."
She ran up and helped him turn the windlass
and after much effort a confused mass of copper
came in sight.
"Good gracious!" exclaimed Shaggy. "Here is
a surprise, indeed!"
"What is it?" inquired Betsy, clinging to the
windlass and panting for breath.
For answer the Shaggy Man grasped the
bundle of copper and dumped it upon the
ground, free of the well. Then he turned it over
with his foot, spread it out, and to Betsy's
astonishment the thing proved to be a copper
man.
"Just as I thought," said Shaggy, looking hard
at the object. "But unless there are two copper
men in the world this is the most astonishing
thing I ever came across."
At this moment the Rainbow's Daughter and the
Rose Princess approached them, and Polychrome
said:
"What have you found, Shaggy One?"
"Either an old friend, or a stranger," he
replied.
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