“What’s that?” she cried. “There’s some one here! Something high and dark went round the corner.”
Neither Wylie nor Maurice, with their faces to the ladder, had seen anything, but she had turned her head to see where Wylie was, and she persisted that in that moment some one who had been standing close to him had vanished. Peering round the corner, they could see nothing, but Wylie drew a revolver as he led the way along the path which formed the link between this ladder and the next. Still there was no one to be seen, and he returned the weapon to his sash before stooping to feel for the head of the ladder. All along the brink he groped without success before the truth dawned upon him. The ladder was not there. It was not a very long one, but it crossed slantwise a deep chasm in the rock, which offered an insurmountable obstacle to any one trying to ascend the cliff without it.
“The ladder is gone,” he said, turning to the other two, and hoping that his voice did not betray his feelings. “We must let ourselves down. Take off those monks’ gowns you have on. They will have to do for ropes.”
They obeyed, and Wylie slit the long shapeless garments in two from neck to hem with his dagger, then tied the halves together by their huge sleeves, and the two gowns to one another. “I’ll go first,” he said, “and you had better both hang on to the rope, for it’ll be a big strain.”
They obeyed, not understanding how he meant to get across; but to their horror, when he had let himself down over the edge, the rope began to oscillate violently. He had fastened the end round his waist, so as to leave his hands free, and he was doing his utmost to swing across the chasm. Again and again his efforts fell short, and he swung back bruised; but at last, with a wild clutch, he caught hold of the bushes growing on the other side, and hauled himself up.
“Now, Miss Smith,” he said breathlessly, “recall your gym. days at school. Do you think you can come down this rope hand over hand?”
Zoe would have died sooner than confess to inability or fear at that moment, though the clumsy knotted cable had little resemblance to a gymnasium-rope. “Rather!” she said promptly, and Wylie twisted the end he held round and round, so as to make the bridge as strong as possible. Sliding down it was out of the question, on account of the knots, and she saw that she must work her way along. Maurice put his end of the rope under the largest stone he could find, as an added security against slipping, then, bracing himself firmly, held it as taut as he could. Zoe gripped it with hands and feet, thankful for the flexible moccasins, which were so much more serviceable than shoes, and dropped slowly from knot to knot, descending diagonally until Wylie, standing on his end of the rope, was able to catch her in his arms. She stood aside, panting, while he asked Maurice whether the stone was large enough to balance his weight.
“Nothing like,” was the reply. “I shall jump. In case I miss, I shall tie the rope round my waist, and you must pull me up. Zoe had better hold on to it as well, for fear the jerk might drag you over. Stand clear.”
Wylie and Zoe stood well back, and waited for the shock, but Maurice had judged his distance so well that though he did not land on the rock where they were standing, he was able to grasp the bushes which grew below it, and before they could give way, Wylie had him by the hand. The bushes afforded sufficient foothold to enable him to raise himself over the edge of the rock, and winding the rope round him in case it should be needed again, he followed the other two to the head of the next ladder. This was duly in place, and they began to descend it in the same order as before, but about midway Wylie’s heart stood still. What if the unknown enemy who had removed the second ladder should have sawn through the supports of this one? He said nothing to his friends, and they went on steadily until they reached the foot of this ladder, and passed through a hole cut in the rock to the head of a fourth. This also was passed in safety, and they stood on a rocky platform, extending some way into the rock in the form of a cave. This was only some hundred and fifty feet above the ground, and the rope-ladder was hanging from its two iron stanchions ready for their descent.
“I say,” said Maurice, “I don’t like the look of this cave. We can’t very well search it without a light, for any one hiding in it could see us against the stars, but if Zoe’s phantom is there, he might think it rather a good dodge to cut the ladder while we were all on it. You take Zoe down first, Wylie, and I’ll stay on guard until you are safe down.”