down here for?"

"You're pretty game," Westy said, "but look out."

By that time Warde was on his hands and knees. He was keeping hold of
the stuff that grew through the cracks and letting himself out toward
the edge of the shelf. We all stood at the top watching him and we were
pretty anxious.

I said, "Don't turn around, go backward."

"How am I going to see anything that way?" he called. "Whoa--a----" he
said, and just then he let go one little clump of bush and grabbed
another. It gave me the shudders.

"That was coming up," he said.

I called to him, "Warde, don't try to turn around on that ledge. Crawl
back and see if you can stand up enough so I can get hold of your hand.
We'll call the whole thing off."

He didn't pay any attention to me, but moved around so his head was
toward the edge. About three feet more and he would be able to look
over. It gave me the shivers just to watch him.

Will Dawson said, "It's too late, he couldn't get back up here now."

I knew that was so--that he wouldn't be able to get within reach of our
hands. If it turned out that he couldn't go all the way down I didn't
know what would happen.

He was clutching little clumps of bush with his hands and sort of
holding himself back that way. All of a sudden he slid forward and only
stopped himself by pressing a little patch of bush between his knees. I
could see he was holding his knees together with all his strength. Even
still he slipped a little. I guess by that time he realized himself the
danger he was in, but he didn't say anything.

Westy flung off his coat and threw it down, keeping hold of one sleeve.
He called, "Here, grab hold of that with one hand if you can."

"I can't let go," Warde called.

His back was toward us so he couldn't see the jacket, but the rest of us
saw that it wasn't within his reach. When Westy threw it, it went maybe
within two feet of Warde's hand and then fell dangling against the
cliff.

"Let's tie two jackets together by the sleeves," Hunt said.

"He wouldn't dare let go to catch hold of it," I told him. "Can't you
see he's hanging on with both hands and feet now? He can't afford to
take any more chances; it's bad enough already."

"_Watch your step, don't move_," Westy called down. "If you've got a
firm hold hang on; don't try to look over. Give us a chance to think."

Warde called, "Wait till I see how it is below and maybe you won't have
to bother to think. Maybe I can go down all