Once there, he flopped over on his back in the tangle of brush and stretched legs and arms relievedly. In the little silence that ensued Bob removed the rope from Laurie and coiled it with unnecessary exactitude. Then Laurie took a long, deep breath, sat up, and said “Thanks!”
That relaxed the general tension. Bob laughed queerly, Ned grinned in a twisted way, and Polly dabbed at her eyes with a diminutive handkerchief.
“Welcome,” said Bob dryly. Then all four began to laugh and talk at the same time. After a moment of that Bob laid a hand on Laurie’s collar. “Let’s get out of this,” he said. Laurie got to his feet somewhat shakily, and they fought their way back to the little clearing. “Now,” said Bob, “we’ll just sit down and look at that view we came up here to see and get rested for a quarter of an hour. I don’t know how Laurie feels, but I’m all in!”
“I’ll bet you are,” responded Laurie. “Guess I had the easiest part of it.”
“You look it,” answered Bob sarcastically. Laurie’s face was brown with dirt, his knuckles were bleeding, there was a cut on his chin, and his clothes were torn until they looked fit only for the ragman. Ned, who had been scowling blackly for the last minute or two, broke into sudden speech.
“Of all the crazy lunatics, Laurie,” he began fiercely.
“Oh, please, Ned!” cried Polly. “He didn’t mean to do it!”
“Let him say it,” said Laurie humbly. “I deserve it, and it’ll do him good.”
But Ned’s eloquence had fled him. He said “Humph!” and turned his head away and stared hard at the wide expanse of scenery spread before him. The others pretended not to know that there were tears in his eyes, and Bob said hastily: “Well, all’s swell that ends swell! How did it happen, anyway, Nod?”
“Oh, I was—was thinking about something and didn’t realize I was so close to the edge, I guess. Then Ned called to me and I turned around quick and one foot began to go. I tried to catch hold of that tree there and missed it. Next thing I knew I was sliding down the rock. I guess that trying to catch hold of the tree saved me, because it threw me forward and, instead of falling outward, I went sliding down with my face scraping against the rock. Somehow, just by luck, I got hold of a root for a second. It broke off, but it helped, I guess, for I stopped with my feet on that ledge and my right hand holding on to something above me. I suppose I made sort of a fuss about it down there,” he concluded apologetically, “but you don’t know how quivery your nerves get, Bob. Seemed like my legs wanted to dance all the time!”