“O.K.!”
She saw now that one end of the rope was coming slowly down again. As it sank nearer, her torch brought to view the fact that it was knotted every few feet. Soon she was able to catch the swinging end.
“Make it fast to that bush,” he commanded.
She did as she was told and turned to him for further orders.
Bill pulled the rope taut, then lashed his end about the trunk close to the point where the tree jutted out from the rock. That done he slashed the loose half free with his knife just above the knot.
“That gives us a hauling line,” she heard him say. “I’ll hang on to this end—you knot the other about your waist.”
She caught the end that he threw down and after fastening it securely about her, peered up at him again.
“All right for me to shin up?” she asked, with a hand on the knotted rope that was to act as her ladder to the dizzy height above.
“Wait till I get back on terra firma—this tree won’t stand our combined weights.”
Perhaps a minute elapsed. Then she heard his voice again, though she could no longer see him.