THEN I SAW PEE-WEE—JIMINIES, HE LOOKED TERRIBLE!
“Get hold of my leg,” the other boy said, and he stuck one leg out.
I didn’t say a word. It seemed to me that if I spoke even, Pee-wee might fall. I didn’t want him to look up at me, I was afraid he’d tumble if he did. He was crawling so careful, and he was so scared, that it seemed as if anything might topple him over. I just held my breath while I was waiting. He grabbed hold of the boy’s leg, then he got hold of him round the waist. I just looked at that fellow’s hands, the way they were clutching hold of the rock. Oh, did I hope he wouldn’t let go! Pee-wee climbed up on his shoulders and got hold of another rock and then the man who was reaching over was just able to get hold of one of the kid’s arms. Oh, that was risky work! Then that boy let go one of his hands—gee it gave me the creeps—and he reached up and held Pee-wee’s foot on his shoulder. Then he sort of guided the kid’s foot up to a smaller chunk of rock that stuck out. All the while the man had hold of Pee-wee’s arm. The next I knew the poor kid came scrambling up over the edge—he didn’t even see me. Even when I spoke he didn’t notice me. He just fell down flat on the ground—I thought he fainted but he didn’t.
I was just going to shout down that Pee-wee was safe all right when I heard a noise and somebody called, “Righto.” I looked over the edge and that other boy wasn’t there.
Somebody called up, “Where’s the kid? Is he all right?”
“Tell ’em yes only my leg’s cut and I had a hair-breadth escape,” the kid said. I had to laugh the way he said it.
“That movie boy fell down I think,” I said to the man.
He went to the edge and shouted, “How about it down there?”
Sandy—I think it was Sandy—called back, “He’s all right—this one’s all right. How about the kid?”
“Did you tell ’em I had a hair-breadth escape from death?” Pee-wee asked me.