t
something that dangled from the slight break in the cliff. It
descended slowly and jerkily, with haphazard gyrations. As its end
drew closer, she perceived that it was a rudely constructed
rope-ladder, with wooden rungs. She watched it fascinated, shivering
with new fears.

When the flimsy means of ascent hung at its full length, Hodges bade
the girl climb. Unnerved as she already was, the ordeal of such a
progress to the mysterious height above seemed too terrible. She
refused mutely, shaking her head, and cowering away from the outlaw as
far as the thong permitted. But the man had no pity for her
timorousness.

"You-all kin jest nacherly crawl up thet-thar ladder," he announced,
"or we'll sling ye on the end of a rope, an' h'ist ye. Thet'll tumble
ye round an' bump ye agin the rocks quite some. But ye're the doctor.
If ye'll climb up, I'll leave yer han's loose, an' foller cluss behind
ye, so ye kain't fall. Hit's shore wobbly, but hit's safe. Dan Hodges
hain't aimin' to git his neck broke--ner to let the law break it fer
him!" he added, in a lower tone to himself.

But Plutina caught the words. She made nothing of them at the time;
afterward, she realized their significance, and thanked God for them.

In the end, the prisoner yielded to necessity and ventured to mount
with reluctant slowness. She found, to her intense relief, that the
strength was returning to her body. She no longer felt the pervasive
lassitude. The physical improvement reacted on her mind to restore
confidence in her powers. She realized that probably the only danger
lay in her own faltering, and she resolved to overcome her natural
dread, to bend all her energies to a safe performance of the task.
Despite her hatred of the man, she found unspeakable comfort in the
sight of his great hairy hands clutching the ropes on either side of
her at the height of her waist. But, as she mounted, the space beneath
grew fearsome to her, and she raised her eyes and held them steadily
on the distance above, as she had learned to do in clambering with her
lover.

Somehow, now, the thought of Zeke heartened Plutina. Swinging dizzily
in the abyss, with the arms of her jailer about her, there flowed into
her soul a new courage. It was without reason, an absurdity, a folly,
but, oh, what a solace to her spirit! Under the stimulus of it, she
ascended more rapidly. The pinched, ugly face of Garry Hawks,
glowering down at her from the ledge, did not dismay her,