re he could catch his balance or do more than tightly grasp the
free end of the rope which passed under his belt, over and down he went.

For one swift instant he saw the long, white, curling breakers on the
beach below him, for he fell face downward, his body or feet scarcely
touching the rocky wall. He never knew quite how it happened, but in
some way the rope jammed at his belt, and before he had fallen more than
fifteen or twenty feet he found himself fast, but swinging like a
plummet at the end of the line, entirely out of touch, with either
hands or feet, with the face of the rocky wall. Below him he could
faintly hear the murmur of the sea on the rocks a hundred and fifty feet
below. Above him he could see nothing but the edge of the shelf over
which he had fallen. As soon as he could control himself, he called
aloud again and again, but he got no answer. If his friends above heard
him, their answer was drowned by the clamor of the wild birds. Here,
then, was the most serious situation in which he had ever found himself
in all his life.

Up above, on the summit of the rock, the boys had seen the sudden jerk
on the rope and noticed that now it was motionless, whereas before it
had trembled and shifted as Rob moved along the shelf. Skookie was the
first to divine what had happened. He pointed to the cord, now tense and
stiff, and leaned out over the rim, peering down at the shelf where Rob
had stood.

"Him gone!" said he, turning back a sober face. "Pretty soon him die
now, I guess."

Jesse and John looked at each other with white faces. They sprang to the
rope, but hesitated, fearing lest touching it might prove dangerous.

"Wait," said Jesse. "Let's look around first and get our wits together.
One thing is certain, he is down there at the end of this. If the rope
was not fast to him it would be loose and we could pull it up. That
means that he is alive yet, anyhow, I am sure." He leaned far out over
the rim of the summit, and between his hollowed hands called down:
"Don't be afraid, Rob! We'll pull you up pretty soon!"

Dangling far down at the end of the rope, Rob at first grew faint and
dizzy. He dared not look below him, but had presence of mind enough to
keep his eyes fixed on the nearest part of the cap of the rocky wall, so
that he was less dizzy, although he whirled round and about at the
extremity of the rope, which it seemed to him would almost cut him in
two. None the less he made the end all the