r a moment slipping down the slanted surface of the rock, and when I
reached the edge he hung apparently with one foot on a slippery stone, and
his left hand clawing wildly at the snow, which yielded under it. I think
his other fingers were in a crevice. The fall might not be dangerous in
itself, but it seemed impossible that anybody launched upon that
declivity could escape a glissade over the precipice. This struck me in an
instant and, grasping a shrub which grew in a crevice, I held out my right
hand toward him.

"Get hold, lift yourself with your foot, and I'll drag you up!" I said.

He made a desperate effort, for I could see the veins swell on his
forehead, but it was the injured foot which had found hold, and when his
chest was level with the edge, still clawing at the treacherous covering,
he commenced to slip back again.

"Can't do it. Let go, before I pull you over too!" he gasped.

One reads that in cases of imminent peril men's memories have been
quickened and past events rise up before them, but nothing of this kind
happened to me, for as far as recollection serves I was conscious only
that I could not recover my own balance now, and that there were great
beads of sweat on the forehead of the man struggling for his life below
who stared up with starting eyes, while my right arm seemed slowly being
drawn out of its socket. So I fought for breath, and held on, while I
fancy Ormond choked out again: "You fool, let go!" and then, with slow
rending, the roots of the shrub gave way, and we plunged downward
together.

Ormond was undermost, and he must have struck an uncovered rock heavily,
for I heard a thudding shock, and the next moment, driving my heels into
the snow, I swept down the incline at a speed which threatened to drive
the little sense left in me completely away. Nevertheless, I noticed that
Ormond rushed downward head foremost several yards away, and there was a
loud crash when he charged through a juniper thicket, and then struck
violently against a spruce, which brought him up almost on the verge of
the gully. By good luck I slid into a clump of stout saplings, and
presently rose to my knees, blinking about me in a dazed fashion. One
thing, however, was evident--any rash move would launch me over the sheer
fall. Ormond lay still against the slender trunk, and several minutes
passed before he raised his head. There was a red stain on the snow beside
him, and his voice was uneven.

"You are no