"I can't!"
"Let go of that stuff and hang on to me!" he said again, and the words
were short and sharp. "Left hand first! Put your arm round my neck, and
then get round and hang on with the other! It's only a few feet more. I
can manage it."
They were the most definite instructions she had ever received in her
life, and the most difficult to obey. She hung, clinging with both hands,
still vainly seeking a foothold, desperately afraid to relinquish her
hold and trust herself unreservedly to his single-handed strength. But,
as he waited, it came to her that it was the only thing to do. With a
gasp she freed one hand at length and reaching back as he held her she
thrust it over his shoulder.
"Now the other hand, please!" he said.
She did not know how she did it. It was like loosing her grip upon life
itself. Yet after a few seconds of torturing irresolution she obeyed him,
abandoning her last hold and hanging to him in palpitating apprehension.
He put forth his full strength then. She felt the strain of his
muscles as he gathered her up with one arm. With the other hand, had
she but known it, he was grasping only the naked rock. Yet he moved
as if absolutely sure of himself.
Pages:
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49