Not by the height so much as by the size,

And then the danger to the man unskilled

In standing on a rope that runs through eyes.

"But in a storm," he thought, "the yards will rise

And roll together down, and snap their gear!"

The sweat came cold upon his palms for fear.

Sometimes in Gloucester he had felt a pang

Swinging below the house-eaves on a stage.

But stages carry rails; here he would hang

Upon a jerking rope in a storm's rage,