A slip, of course, would be dangerous. It would be hard to stop rolling, once started down the incline; and unless a bush or a boulder were conveniently in the way, a bound over the ledge would be inevitable—and then oblivion.
She did not like to think about it. Bill guided her up the incline and did so with uncanny accuracy, considering the darkness, and the fact that he had not travelled this trail before. She came to the conclusion that the worst was over, when he stopped abruptly.
“Sit down and take it easy,” he advised. “This is where I’ve got to see what we’re doing.”
“Surely you’re not going to show a light?” she asked in alarm, and sank down on the rocky ground.
“Have to,” was his quick reply. “Those guys below us know we’re up here, so what does it matter?”
“But I thought we were almost at the top.”
“Almost, but not quite. Look at that!”
A beam of light shot upward from his torch, and turning her head, she saw a sight that sent her heart down to the very tips of her ragged, soaking pumps.
They had indeed come to the top; but merely to the top of this steep hillside of bushes and rubble. Where this ended, a few feet away, the naked rock towered almost perpendicular. Forty feet or more from its base this wall jutted sharply outward, half that distance again.
She sprang to her feet, an exclamation of dismay on her lips.