“Yes. Why not?” asked Blake. “There’s nothing to a slide like this except the look of it.”
“Oh, Tom!” breathlessly cried Genevieve. “Are you sure––quite sure!” 285
“Sure I’m sure, little woman,” he replied. “There’s not the slightest danger. This is a new manila rope, and the package, with all those spikes in it, weighs as much as I do. That gives us a sure test.”
“I might have known!” she sighed her relief.
“Still it does look a bit stiff for a start-off,” he admitted. “If Lafe prefers, he can go around and come down the ravine bed. I shall slide the line and be getting the outfit in shape for shooting the chutes.”
“How about the rope?” asked Isobel.
“You are to drop it to me as soon as I get down and stand from under,” directed Blake. He examined with minute care the loop and knot with which Gowan and Isobel had made the rope fast around the point of rock. Having satisfied himself that the knot was perfectly secure, he turned to his wife and opened his arms. “Now, Sweetheart! Wish us good luck and a quick journey!”
Gowan and Ashton drew back and looked away as Genevieve flung herself on her husband’s broad chest, unable to restrain her tears.
“Now, now, little woman,” he soothed, patting her shoulder. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, and you know it.”
“If––if only we could see you down there!” she sobbed.