--I can't talk," he gasped forth.

"All right--steady! Take it coolly, lad."

"Yes; only don't ask me to talk till I've something to say."

"No!" shouted Dale, as the sides of the crevasses grew more distant and
represented two jagged lines against the sky. "Splendid rope, Saxe!"
came down to him; "runs as easily as if it were made of silk. Cut your
chest?"

"Not much," shouted the boy, who for an instant felt a sensation of
danger as the rope turned him round; but, remembering his instructions,
he touched the wall of clear ice with the point at the end of the axe
handle, checked himself, and tried to look downward into the blue
transparent light which rose up to meet him, as it seemed.

"Half the rope out, Saxe!" came from above. "See anything!"

"No."

"Bit lower down, I suppose. Don't let it turn."

The two edges of the crevasse now began to approach, each other, as it
seemed to Saxe; and he could see that, except where the piece was broken
away, they exactly matched, every angle on the one side having its
depression on the other, the curves following each other with marvellous
exactness, just as if the fracture were one of only a few weeks old.

"See the ledge, Saxe?" came down.

"No;" and the lad felt an intense longing now to be able to see Dale's
face watching him, for it would have seemed like companionship, instead
of his having nothing to gaze at but the strip of blue sky, and the
glistening blue-ice walls on either side going off to right and left
till they seemed to come together in the blue gloom.

And still the rope glided over the ice above, and the slip of sky grew
narrow; but though Saxe peered down into the depths, there was no sign
of any ledge, and the boy who now felt less nervous, was wondering how
much longer the rope was, when Dale's voice was heard.

"No more rope!" he cried. "Now, can you see the ledge?"

Saxe gazed down in silence for a few moments, and Dale's voice came
again--short, sharp and impatient:

"I say, can you see the ledge?"

"No."

"Are you quite sure?"

"Yes."

There was a pause, and then Dale's voice was heard again:

"Does the rope hurt you much?"

"No."

"Can you bear it five minutes longer!"

"Yes--a quarter of an hour."

"Bravo! Wait."

There was a strange silence then, during which Saxe gazed down below
him; but he could see no more than when he had been at the top, only
that everything looked blacker and more profound, and that the n