Leaning over, he called: “Can you hear me?”
Bab answered, “Yes.”
“Then keep still,” shouted Mr. Cartwright, “and I’ll have you up here in a moment.”
Quickly he knotted the rope around Jones’s waist; then, some yards farther on, he tied it round his own. “Go back,” he said to his butler, “and lie down.” Jones was large and heavy; Mr. Cartwright was a tall man, thin, but strong.
Slowly he lowered himself to the tree where Bab had tied her poor rope, and flung an improvised lasso over to Bab. “Not me,” said Barbara, forgetting her grammar. “Ruth first.”
“Can she climb with the help of the rope?” asked their rescuer.
Ruth had not spoken, but she opened her eyes, gave a shudder and fainted.
Like a flash Bab had thrown the lasso over her shoulders, and Ruth hung swaying in the air! Fortunately her feet were still on the ledge of the rock. Mr. Cartwright caught his rope round the tree, at the same time calling to Jones, “Throw me another coil!” He then clambered down and half carried, half dragged the fainting Ruth to the top of the cliff.
Once above, he dropped his burden, and again flung the lasso over the edge of the rocks to Barbara, who, crawling and being pulled by turns, came up in safety. When she had reached the top, and stood by the side of the fainting Ruth, Bab’s courage deserted her, and she burst into tears.
“Get the young ladies to the house at once,” ordered Mr. Cartwright, far more frightened than he had been while playing rescuer.