"Sure I'm sure, little woman," he replied. "There's not the slightest
danger. This is a new manila rope, and the package, with all those
spikes in it, weighs as much as I do. That gives us a sure test."

"I might have known!" she sighed her relief.

"Still it does look a bit stiff for a start-off," he admitted. "If
Lafe prefers, he can go around and come down the ravine bed. I shall
slide the line and be getting the outfit in shape for shooting the
chutes."

"How about the rope?" asked Isobel.

"You are to drop it to me as soon as I get down and stand from under,"
directed Blake. He examined with minute care the loop and knot with
which Gowan and Isobel had made the rope fast around the point of
rock. Having satisfied himself that the knot was perfectly secure, he
turned to his wife and opened his arms. "Now, Sweetheart! Wish us good
luck and a quick journey!"

Gowan and Ashton drew back and looked away as Genevieve flung herself
on her husband's broad chest, unable to restrain her tears.

"Now, now, little woman," he soothed, patting her shoulder. "There's
nothing to be afraid of, and you know it."

"If--if only we could see you down there!" she sobbed.

"You will, part of the time, with your glasses. And you'll be sure to
see the flash of some of my shots. That's all that I'm worrying
about--you'll be skirting along the canyon rim. Promise me you'll not
go near the edge except where the footing is perfectly safe."

"Yes, Dear. I shall have Thomas to remind me to be careful. But you?"

"I shall have the thought of you both to keep me from being rash.
Remember that."

"You will not be rash, I know," she answered, smiling up at him
bravely. "You will go and come back to us soon. Now kiss me and
Thomas. I shall not detain you from your work."

"Spoken like my partner," he quietly praised her.

Both by tone and manner he was plainly seeking to ease the parting to
the calmness of an ordinary farewell. His wife responded to this,
outwardly at least. Not so Isobel. From the moment he had turned to
Genevieve, the girl had betrayed a rapidly increasing agitation.

He went to kiss his baby, who had fallen asleep during the last half
mile of the trip and lay sprawled in the shade of a bowlder. As he
came back, Genevieve lingered beside the child, as if half fearful of
watching her husband begin his dizzy descent of the rope.

Isobel was standing close to the verge, her bosom heaving with
quick-drawn breaths,