Steering Column got shorter....

Need some help here... I picked up a floor shift column for my 69 Valiant. When I was TRYING to install it, it felt like it was sliping onto the steering box just fine. But when I got out of the car to see how far it needed to go, I found that the shaft had slid all the way into the column.

Did something on the inside give way, can this just simply be pulled back out, or do I need to tear the column apart to pull the shaft back to the proper length? Thanks...

Oh, its a P.S. car and column....