ago."

"It is likely," said Oddo; "but thinking that some man must have put it
there, I should like to see whether it really is impossible for one with
a strong hand and light foot to mount this wall. I brought our longest
boat-hook on purpose to try. Where a ladder hung before, a foot must
have climbed; and if I mount, Rolf may have mounted before me."

It chilled Peder's heart to remember the aspect of the precipice which
his boy talked of climbing; but he said nothing, feeling that it would
be in vain. This forbearance touched Oddo's feelings.

"I will run into no folly, trust me," said he. "I do not forget that
you depend on me for getting home; and that the truth, about Nipen and
such things, depends, for an age to come, on our being seen at home
again safe. But I have a pretty clear notion that Rolf is somewhere on
the top there."

"Suppose you call him, then."

Oddo had much rather catch him. He pictured to himself the pride and
pleasure of mastering the ascent; the delight of surprising Rolf asleep
in his solitude, and the fun of standing over him to waken him, and
witness his surprise. He could not give up the attempt to scale the
rock: but he would do it very cautiously.

Slowly and watchfully they passed round the islet, Oddo seeking with his
eye any ledge of the rock on which he might mount. Pulling off his
shoes, that his bare feet might have the better hold, and stripping off
almost all his clothes, for lightness in climbing, and perhaps swimming,
he clambered up to more than one promising spot, and then, finding that
further progress was impossible, had to come down again. At last;
seeing a narrow chasm filled with leafy shrubs, he determined to try how
high he could reach by means of these. He swung himself up by means of
a bush which grew downwards, having its roots firmly fixed in a crevice
of the rock. This gave him hold of another, which brought him in reach
of a third; so that, making his way like a squirrel or a monkey, he
found himself hanging at such a height, that it seemed easier to go on
than to turn back. For some time after leaving his grandfather, he had
spoken to him, as an assurance of his safety. When too far off to
speak, he had sung aloud, to save the old man from fears; and now that
he did not feel at all sure whether he should ever get up or down, he
began to whistle cheerily. He was pleased to hear it answered from the
boat. The thought of the old man sitting