“Ready!” announced the four men in chorus. General Gordon added that he would stand at the upper edge of the slope and watch Grace over its lower edge, from which point she would have a sheer drop of what he estimated to be about three hundred feet to the cliff dwelling.
“Loyalheart! Do be careful,” admonished Elfreda anxiously. “I know there is no use trying to dissuade you from attempting this foolish thing, so we can do nothing except to wish you luck.”
“Yes you can—you can hold fast to the rope,” corrected Grace. Smiling and nodding to her companions, she took a final look about, then crept cautiously down to the edge of the slope, where the sheer drop began, waved a hand and disappeared over the edge of the precipice.
CHAPTER XXIII
BETWEEN EARTH AND SKY
BEFORE starting on her perilous venture, Grace had directed that the rope be paid out slowly, so as not to set up so much friction that the rope would be in danger of burning.
As she went over, Grace took one look below her and closed her eyes, but after a few moments she summoned her courage, opened her eyes and looked down. She could see, directly beneath her, the ledge under which the Cliff Dwellers’ Community House had been constructed. Out in front of the ledge were the white stone walls and part of the roof of the ancient structure, which she was on her way to explore.
“Getting down is easy. It is getting back that is going to be the big problem,” muttered the plucky girl. “It is worth the risk. Think of it, Grace Harlowe, you possibly will be the first human being to set foot on that shelf of rock in ten centuries, perhaps ten times ten centuries.”
Grace wriggled and twisted herself into position for a suitable landing, and, as it was, she grazed the wall of the cliff dwelling, slipping down the side of it, kicking out vigorously to keep from tearing her clothing on the protruding points of stone, until her feet touched the ground.
“Down! Harlowe luck is with me thus far.” Grace hastily penciled a note, reading: