Ørlygur opened his eyes in astonishment. Jon Hallsson was there, on the ledge, in his shirt-sleeves, carrying a bag in his hand. The sweat poured down his face, which was flushed with unwonted exertion; he was so exhausted that he could hardly speak.
“Looks as though the best thing I can do’s to go down again, and wait for you at the bottom of your beastly mountain. Though I’m not likely to be much use to you when you get there. Wish you were safely over here, don’t you? Well, so do I, but how to get you there’s another thing.”
“You’ve come in the nick of time,” cried Ørlygur merrily. All thought of death or danger seemed to have vanished. “But how did you find your way up?”
“I’ve been keeping an eye on the place—ever since this morning, watching through a telescope. First time I spied something moving on the top, I thought it must be an eagle. I hoped all along you’d have more sense. But when I saw the eagle building castles—sacrificial altars—on the topmost heights of pig-headed obstinacy, I took it that by some miracle or other you’d got here after all. So I packed up some tools and bandages and things, and came out to deal with a fine crop of fractures. But there’s neither god nor devil would persuade me to come crawling out to where you are now.”
“Don’t want you to, I’m sure. Does any one know you’ve come up here at all?”
“No sense in telling them that I could see. At least, not till I’d made sure whether you were mincemeat or not.”
“Have you a knife with you?”
“Sir—you insult me. Didn’t I tell you I’d come out here prepared for operations generally?”
“Well, I wish you’d content yourself meantime with amputating an end of that rope I left hanging down near where the dog is. About twenty feet. Then, if you’ll make one end fast where you are, and throw me the other, you’ll have me safe and sound on the ledge beside you in a moment. Not that I’m in any hurry to get away from here, really—it’s quite a comfortable place to rest a bit. But I’ve just discovered that I’m desperately hungry, and there’s still some food left in my bag.”
“Don’t talk nonsense,” retorted the doctor. “Rope, you say? I can’t get it without climbing up that silly place, and I’m not an acrobat.”