Bennie started to tie the rope under his arms, but Spider grabbed it.
“Say, whose card did you take that book out on?” he said. “My turn now.”
After considerable feeling around for toe-holds, Spider got to the ledge, and into the chimney. When he stood erect, the top was only a few feet over his head, so he soon had his fingers above the rim, and pulled himself out and vanished. A moment later they heard his “All fast!” and with the rope to climb with, the rest were speedily beside him on the snow-covered summit of the mountain.
Everybody gave a shout as the prospect burst on them—the 200 foot drop at their feet to the bottom of the cliff, and then the long steep slope below, and then the valley farms and roads, all lying under a dazzling carpet of white, and the far-off village and still farther away more blue mountains.
“I was never on a mountain in winter,” said Spider. “Gee, it’s great!”
“You’ve said it!” cried Tom and Billy.
Bennie didn’t speak for a moment.
“Say, it sort of makes a feller feel queer,” he said, finally. “I mean, all this bigness!”
“It’s the altitude, Bennie,” Tom remarked. “Goes to people’s heads, sometimes.”
“Shut up,” Bennie retorted, good-naturedly. “Just the same, I know now why men go bugs on mountain climbing.”