Frank talked bravely enough, but he held his breath as Jack came sliding down. When the boy’s feet struck the ledge, he certainly would have tumbled backward into the pit if Frank had not thrown one arm against him. The boys looked at each other for a moment without speaking. They fully understood the peril they were in, yet they tried to be cheerful, each seeking to belittle the danger to the other.
“There,” Frank said lightly, “that was easy enough. We’ll never get any medals for doing an easy stunt like that.”
“Of course, it was easy,” Jack answered, “and the next ledge is not so far away and is broader. We’ll have to slide down there together side by side and then if you fall, I can give you a lift, and you can do the same for me. I don’t think we’re going to have so much trouble with this old hole after all. Lots of things look easy after the start.”
“That’s always the way in this gay old world of ours,” Frank answered, “all you got to do is to face a dreaded thing and half its terror is lost.”
The next ledge was easily reached, but was not so safe as the other, the edge having crumbled away to some extent. In fact, the boys slid off a great deal quicker than they would otherwise have done, as the rock under their feet gave indications of dropping.
And so, working their way from ledge to ledge, sometimes at the peril of their lives, sometimes finding the way fairly safe and easy, the boys reached a point not more than twenty feet from the spot where their unconscious chum was lying.
“Now,” Jack said as they stood on the last ledge and looked into the clear pool below, “we’ve got to slide down here like we were going down a chute. The chances are that we won’t have any neat uniforms when we get to the bottom, and the possibility is that we’ll be good and wet by the time we make our way out of that pool.”
“I’m not going into that pool!” Frank declared. “It’s colder than Greenland up here now, and if we get wet we’ll be frozen stiff in half an hour. We can’t do Harry any good by going to him in a condition calling for nurses and hot drinks.”
“I don’t know how you’re going to help tumbling into the pool!” Jack answered. “It lies not more than twenty feet from the bottom of the incline.”
“I’ll show you how!” Frank declared. “All you’ve got to do is to slide down on your little empty tummy and wear your fingers up to the second or third joint digging into the rocks.”