ter than any of you," Kyla called shrilly, "and not hefty
enough to be any use on the ropes!" Her voice quavered somewhat as she
added, "--and hang on to that rope, Lerrys! If you lose it, I'll have
done this for nothing!"

She gripped the loop of vine and reached, with her free hand, for the
next loop. Now she was swinging out over the edge of the boiling rapids.
Tight-mouthed, I gestured to the others to spread out slightly
below--not that anything would help her if she fell.

Hjalmar, watching as the woman gained the third loop--which joggled
horribly to her slight weight--shouted suddenly, "Kyla, quick! The loop
_beyond_--don't touch the next one! It's frayed--rotted through!"

Kyla brought her left hand up to her right on the third loop. She made a
long reach, missed her grab, swung again, and clung, breathing hard, to
the safe fifth loop. I watched, sick with dread. The damned girl should
have told me what she intended.

Kyla glanced down and we got a glimpse of her face, glistening with the
mixture of sunburn cream and sweat, drawn with effort. Her tiny swaying
figure hung twelve feet above the white tumbling water, and if she lost
her grip, only a miracle could bring her out alive. She hung there for a
minute, jiggling slightly, then started a long back-and-forward swing.
On the third forward swing she made a long leap and grabbed at the final
loop.

It slipped through her fingers; she made a wild grab with the other
hand, and the liana dipped sharply under her weight, raced through her
fingers, and with a sharp snap, broke in two. She gave a wild shriek as
it parted, and twisted her body frantically in mid-air, landing asprawl
half-in, half-out of the rapids, but on the further bank. She hauled her
legs up on dry land and crouched there, drenched to the waist but safe.

[Illustration: The rope swung perilously, threatening to dash her on the
rocks.]

* * * * *

The Darkovans were yelling in delight. I motioned to Lerrys to make his
end of the rope fast around a hefty tree-root, and shouted, "Are you
hurt?" She indicated in pantomime that the thundering of the water
drowned words, and bent to belay her end of the rope. In sign-language I
gestured to her to make very sure of the knots; if anyone slipped, she
hadn't the weight to hold us.

I hauled on the rope myself to test it, and it held fast. I slung her
boots around my neck by their cords, then, gripping the fixed rope