hly fastened cord of goat-skin, by which the dwarf was hauling
himself up the ice, for if it gave they must all be precipitated to the
dip below, there to perish miserably. Faint and frozen as he was, it
seemed hours to him before Otter reached the top and called to him to
get go of Juanna.

Leonard obeyed, and seating himself on the snow, his feet supported by
the edge of the ice, the dwarf put out his strength and began to pull
her up. Strong as he was, it proved as much as he was able to do;
indeed, had Juanna lain on any other material than ice, he could not
have done it at all. But in the end he succeeded, and with a gasp of
gratitude Leonard saw her stretched safe upon the snow.

Now Otter, hastily undoing the cord from Juanna's waist, made it into
a running noose which he threw down to Leonard, who placed it over his
shoulders. Having lifted the spear from the cleft in which it stood, he
commenced his ascent. His first movements cost him a pang of agony,
and no wonder, for the blood from wounds that had been caused by the
friction of his flesh as he was hurled along the surface of the slide,
had congealed, freezing his limbs to the ice, whence they could not
easily be loosened. The pain, sharp as it was, did him good, however,
for it aroused his benumbed energies and enabled him to drag on the
goat-skin cord with all his strength, while Otter tugged at that which
was beneath his arms.

Well for him was it that the dwarf had taken the precaution of throwing
down this second line, for presently Otter's stake, which had no firm
hold in the frozen earth, came out and slid away, striking Leonard as it
passed and bearing the knotted lengths of the cloak with it. The dwarf
cried aloud and bent forward as though he were about to fall. By a
fearful effort he recovered himself and held fast the rope in his hand,
while Leonard, suspended by it, swung to and fro on the surface of the
ice like the pendulum of a clock.

Then followed the most terrible moments of all their struggle against
the difficulties of this merciless place. The dwarf held fast above, and
Leonard, ceasing to swing, lay with hands and legs outstretched on the
face of the ice.

"Now, Baas," said Otter, "be brave, and when I pull, do you wriggle
forward."

He tugged till the thin hide rope stretched, while Leonard clawed and
kicked at the ice with his toes, knees, and disengaged hand.

Alas! it gave no hold--he might as well have tried to climb a dom