"I hate to stay alone here in the dark," remarked Berwick humorously.
Jim grinned, then he strode away along the cliff, and quickly disappeared in the darkness. Five, ten, fifteen minutes passed, and then he appeared unexpectedly in front of the engineer.
"Hello, what have you got there?" inquired Berwick; "looks to me like you were going to start a garden."
"I found these vines growing over some rocks back there," Jim explained; "as we haven't any rope they are next best."
"Good boy! I would never have thought of that," said Berwick.
"We have used it before," said Jim; "when we were on the frontier."
"But will it hold?" remarked the engineer. "I'm no heavy weight, but I am not a fairy either."
"Wind 'em together and they will do," replied Jim.
In a short time, he had got one end of the improvised rope over one of the iron spikes, then he criss-crossed them and got the other end over the next spike, making a very respectable ladder.
"You first, John," ordered Jim.