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.