Pierre now spoke. "I see but one place where you can fasten the rope. That is a little beyond where you got the water. It looks like a corner of stone which this loop I have made will slip over."
Winslow could see the place, and moved forward to it.
"You see, sir, that the rock of the shelf is bare and firm there, so that when you slip off the rock you are on now to come down the rope you are not likely to bring down a lot of stone on top of you or us, and perhaps break your hold upon the rope."
"True," answered Winslow, "I will try the point."
With hand and mouth Winslow succeeded in getting the loop of the life-line to his hand, and trying it over the rock found that it would not hold.
"It will not hold," said Winslow, in a disappointed tone.
"Is there a crack in the rock near in which you could put a stick to hold the loop?" asked Pierre.
"Yes, there is," he replied. "A piece of wood an inch thick would hold."
"Let down the yarn, then, and this driftwood will give us what we want."
Selecting a tough piece of wood, Pierre attached the cord to it, and Winslow with much labor drew it up to the shelf.