" he groaned. "I can't seem to help
him; and I can't leave him to go for help. I must get down somehow; but
I dursen't jump."

This last thought had hardly crossed his brain when a feeling of wild
excitement rushed through him; for faintly heard from far away below,
and to his left, there came the shrill chirruping note of an officer's
whistle, and Gedge snatched at the spike of his helmet, plucked it off,
and waved it frantically in the air.

"Hoorray!" he yelled. "Hoorray! and I don't care if any one hears me.
Hoorray! He ain't dead a bit; he's down somewhere in the soft snow, and
hoorray! I'm going to get him out."

At that moment the whistle chirruped faint and shrill again, the note
being repeated from the vast wall.

"He's this side somewhere," cried Gedge. "Out o' sight under this
curl-over o' snow. There he goes again, and I haven't answered. Of all
the--"

The cramming of his fingers into his mouth checked the speech, and,
blowing with all his might, the young soldier sent forth a shrill
imitation of the officer's whistle, to echo from the mountain face; and
then, unmistakably, and no echo, came another faint, shrill whistle from
far to the left.

"All right, Mr Bracy, sir! Hoorray! and good luck to you! I'm
a-coming."

He whistled again, and went off in the direction from which his summons
seemed to have come, and again he was answered, and again and again,
till, quite a quarter of a mile along the edge, the young soldier
stopped, for the whistles had sounded nearer and nearer, till he felt
convinced that he had reached a spot on the snow hanging just above his
summoner's head.

As he stopped he whistled again, and the answer sounded shrill and near.

"Below there! Ahoy!" he yelled, and mingling with the echoes came his
name, faintly heard, but in the familiar tones.

"Oh dear! What's a chap to do?" panted Gedge. "I want to holler and
shout, and dance a 'ornpipe. Here, I feel as if I'm goin' as mad as a
hatter. Hi! Oh, Mr Bracy--sir--ain't--half--dead--are--yer?" he
shouted, as if he had punctuated his words with full stops.

"Not--much--hurt," came up distinctly.

"Then here goes!" muttered Gedge. "I must try and get a look at yer, to
see where yer are."

The speaker threw himself on his faces once more, and began to crawl
towards the edge of the cornice, to look down into the fairly-light
chasm; but shrank back only just in time to save himself from going down
with a great