resented her lack of
faith in his courage.

"I don't think," she remarked, helping herself to a sandwich, "that
anybody's going to be cruel enough to make me do it."

"If I do it," said Holton, "no one else will ever have to try it again
in winter. It will be like discovering the North Pole--there's nothing
in it for the second man."

"You're not going to try it! Please don't!" cried Mrs. Holton. "If you
got hurt it would spoil the party for everybody."

"Don't worry, Aunt Nellie. It's as easy as walking home."

He was already throwing off his overcoat, measuring the height and
choosing a place for his ascent.

Amid a chorus of protests and taunts he began climbing rapidly. Phil
rose and watched him with sophisticated eyes as he began mounting. She
saw at once that he had chosen the least fortunate place in the whole
face of the declivity for an ascent. There were two or three faintly
scratched paths, by which the adventurous sometimes struggled to the
top, and she had herself experimented with all of them; but Holton had
essayed the most precipitous and hazardous point for his attempt.

At the start he sprang agilely up the limestone which for a distance
thrust out rough shelves with ladder-like regularity; and when this
failed, he caught at the wild tangle of frozen shrubbery and clutched
the saplings that had hopefully taken root wherever patches of earth
gave the slightest promise of succor. As his difficulties increased a
hush fell upon the spectators.

He accomplished half the ascent, and paused to rest, clinging with one
hand to a slender maple. He turned and waved his cap, and was greeted
with a cheer.

"Better let it go at that!" called one of the young men. "Come on back."

Charles flung down a contemptuous answer and addressed himself to the
more difficult task beyond. Particles of ice and frozen earth detached
by his upward scramble clattered down noisily. Withered leaves, shaken
free from niches where the winds had gathered them, showered fitfully
into the valley. He began drawing himself along by shrubs and young
trees that covered a long outward curve in the face of the cliff. Those
below heard the crackle of frozen twigs, and the swish of released
boughs that marked his progress. Phil stood watching him with an
absorbed interest in which fear became dominant. Better than the others
Phil knew the perils of the cliff, the scant footholds offered by even
the least formidable points in the rough