oise of
waters was more plain as it reverberated from the slippery walls.

"What is he doing?" thought Saxe. "I hope he will soon draw me up;" and
a momentary feeling of panic came over him, and the rope felt painfully
cutting. But just then he caught sight of a dark object against the
sky. The dark object seemed to be descending, and the next moment he
saw that it was light, and he knew that the lanthorn was being sent down
at the end of the string.

"Call to me if the rope hurts you too much," cried Dale; and to his
horror and astonishment Saxe, as he looked up, saw that his companion's
head and shoulders were over the side, and it was as if a black face
were looking down at his.

"The rope doesn't hurt; but--but--is it safe!"

"Perfectly; and I am letting down the light so that you may see where
the ledge is."

"I understand."

The lanthorn glided down very rapidly, and in a few moments was level
with Saxe's face. Then it descended still, and Dale called to him to
say when it should be stopped; but it was some time before the boy
sharply uttered the word, "Now!"

"See the ledge?"

"Yes--with some broken ice upon it."

"Does he seem much hurt?"

Saxe was silent for a few moments, and then said huskily--

"He is not there!"

"He must be. Look again."

"Swing the lanthorn backwards and forwards."

Dale responded by gradually making the lanthorn describe a considerable
arc.

"No--no! No--no!" cried Saxe, as he swept the ledge with his eyes from
end to end.

Dale was silent for a time. Then he said huskily--

"Can you hold out while I lower the lanthorn as far as the string will
go?"

"Yes."

The light descended like a star going down into another firmament of as
deep and dark a blue as that above; and as Saxe watched he saw it
reflected from the dark walls. Then lower, lower, and down and down,
till suddenly it stopped.

"That is all the string--a hundred yards. Can you see him now!"

"No!" said Saxe hoarsely.

"You can see nothing!"

"Only the lamp swinging and the ice shining."

"Hold fast!" cried Dale, and the rope began to quiver in a peculiar way,
as if it were receiving a series of jerks; but Saxe guessed that this
must mean that it was being hauled up handover-hand. There was no one
gazing down at him now, and he had a full view of the blue strip of sky,
which now grew broader and broader, till, after what seemed to have been
a very long ascent, the top of the crevasse