My grasp was weakening fast; my arm seemed as though it would be torn from its socket with the strain. I had given myself up for lost, and was about to loose my hold, and so relieve my aching arm.
A voice came from above me. It was as the sound of sweetest music to my ears.
"Where art thou?" cried Winona, as she leaned over the cliff.
"Be careful," I answered, "there is a great chasm in front of thee, over which I hang by one arm. Quick! or I must let loose and be dashed to pieces on the rocks below."
A slight noise, and then she reached out, and with both hands grasped me by the collar, just as my hand slipped from the ledge, and drawing me slowly up placed me upon the ground. Exhausted and unnerved I lay there, shaking and trembling like a leaf. The strain had been so great, that now I was safe, the reaction was almost more than I could stand in my worn-out condition.
"Where is the lady, Winona?" I asked feebly, as she bent over me.
"She lies below," she answered calmly. "I rushed on up here to find thee."
"And thou didst leave her where she fell?" I cried in amazement.
"Yes," she answered stolidly. "And well for the Eagle that I did, else he had not been here to tell the tale."