A small piece of shale hit me on the shoulder after a long wait, and I
turned my face upward.

"Verslun!" breathed the strained voice of the youngster. "Are you
there?"

"Well?" I asked.

"H'sh!" he murmured. "We are right near the spot, Verslun. If Kaipi
climbs up on your shoulders to this place I think the two of us could
pull you up. Are you willing?"

"Come on, Kaipi," I whispered, and the Fijian climbed nimbly upon me and
moved up into the void above.

"Now, Verslun," muttered Holman. "Reach up till we get a grip of your
wrists. Are you ready? Well, try hard, man! Think of those two helpless
girls and dig your toes in!"

I didn't need any reminder concerning the position of the two sisters
as I stood on tiptoe and scratched with my fingers at the crumbling
ledge upon which Holman and the Fijian crouched. The predicament of
Edith Herndon, and not fears for my own safety, made me scratch madly
for a foothold as I swung above the shelf I left. Kaipi and Holman
tugged till every muscle in my arms shrieked out against the way they
were being handled. But I was going up. I "chinned" the crumbling layer
of rock upon which my fingers had a perilous grip, laid my chest across
the shelf and wriggled into safety.

"That's good," whispered Holman. "Don't puff so hard, man! We're too