“Oh, yes,” said Oliver, smiling, “you can fasten the rope around you Alpine fashion, and I shall hold one end; the others will hold the second end, so that we shall all have you safely enough.”
“All right,” said Drew, shortly, and he made a loop, passed it over his head and shoulders, tightened it, and advanced.
“Now then, draw in the line.”
This was done, and with Oliver sitting with his heels firmly against a projection of the rock, and hauling in foot by foot, and the others giving, Drew went down on hands and knees, gripped the sides of the ladder, and crawled across, the wood cracking a good deal, but not bending nearly so much.
“There,” said Oliver, as Drew unfastened the rope, “now you can help me hold, and Panton can come over.”
“I’m going to walk across,” said Panton, firmly.
“No, you are not, man,” cried Oliver; “you will crawl. We must run no risks to-day.”
Panton grumbled, but obeyed, crawling across in safety after coming to a standstill in the middle and losing his nerve as he gazed down between the rounds.
Then Wriggs came, and Smith was left to run as much risk as Oliver, for he had only rope holders on the farther side, but he went across boldly enough and without hesitation, the rope being steadily gathered in, and when he was over he took a good grip of the ladder and drew it across as well.
“I beg your pardon, Lane,” said Panton, in a voice that only his companion could hear. “It was only banter, but I ought to have known better.”