ced each other, and the dark whirling blackness of the
glooming cloud lowered thicker and thicker around them.

"Let me go, Mona!" he gasped forth wearily, in his semi-faint. "I may
drag you down. Good-bye. Now--let go!"

She almost laughed. The strong grasp tightened upon his hand firmer
than ever.

"If you go, I go too. Now I am going to shout. Perhaps Charlie will
hear." And lifting up her voice she sent forth a long, clear, ringing
call; then another and another.

No answer.

Then, as the minutes went by, the bolt of a wild despair shot through
Mona's brave heart. Strong as she was, she could not hold him for ever,
nor was he able, in the agony of his broken wrist, to raise himself any
farther. Her brain reeled. Wild-eyed with despair she strove to pierce
the opaque grey curtain which was crusting her face and hair with rime.
It was winter, and this table-topped mountain was of considerable
elevation. What if this thick chill cloud was the precursor of a heavy
snowfall? Charlie, acting on the idea that they had missed each other
in the mist, might have gone home. Every muscle in her fine frame
seemed cracking. The strain was momentarily becoming greater, more
intense, and again she sent forth her loud, clear call, this time
thrilling with a fearful note of despair.

It was answered. Eagerly, breathlessly she listened. Yes--it came from
below the cliff. Charlie had arrived at the spot where they had left
their horses. She shouted again. The answer told that he was climbing
the gully by which they had ascended.

"Do you hear that? We are safe now. A few minutes more, and Charlie
will be here."

"It is you who have done it, Mona," he murmured.

Then she spoke no more. Now that succour was near at hand, she found
herself actually revelling in the position, and a delight in making the
most of it while it lasted was qualified by the agony Roden was
suffering, as also by a strange feeling of jealousy that she had not
been able to carry out the rescue alone and unaided; of resentment that
she should be driven to call in the help of another.

"That's it, is it?" said Suffield, prompt to master the situation at a
glance. "Now, Mona, I'll relieve you of this amount of avoirdupois, and
when you have rested for a minute you hold on to me for all you know
how, and I'll lug him up in a second."

The while he had got hold of Roden by the hand and wrist; then in a
trice had, as he said, dragged t