s hand. In his palm lay a small
coffee-colored piece of stone. It bore in darker shade the clear
tracery of a cross. Zeke, looking down, saw the sacred symbol subtly
effulgent, a holy promise of safety for her whom he loved. He lifted a
radiant face to the others, who had crowded about with marveling
exclamations.

"Hit's the fairy cross I give Tiny," Zeke cried. His voice was joyous
now, though throbbing with anxiety. "She hain't dead. She's kotched
somehow thar on the rocks. She kain't climb up. So, she sent the cross
by Chubbie, to show she was alive. I'll go down fer her."

The listening group readily understood the wonder that had befallen.
Whatever her present peril, whatever her injuries, Plutina still
lived. The blessed fact stirred them to joy and to orderly action.

"Ye kain't he'p Tiny none by fallin' into the Kittle yerself," Uncle
Dick declared, with the voice of authority. "Jest hold yer hosses, an'
we'll he'p ye git 'er up safe an' sound. They's grape-vines 'nough in
the grove. I suspicion she hain't so fer down. Mebby we could hear 'er
if the wind wa'n't blowin' to the no'th."

They dared not take time for descent into the valley after rope.
Moreover, Uncle Dick was confident that his knots would hold securely
the weight of a single person. With all speed, strands of vine were
brought and spliced most carefully. In a surprisingly brief time,
there were some seventy-five feet in readiness. More would be added,
if this length should not suffice. When the rope was completed, an end
was securely fastened about Zeke's body with knots that would neither
tighten nor slip.

The young man had removed shoes and stockings, and now walked boldly
down the sloping surface toward the brink. Behind him went Uncle Dick,
who was to advance as far as his foothold should be secure. On the
level above the Slide, the three other men held the rope, ready to pay
it out, or to haul it in. Uncle Dick's duty was to save it, so far as
might be, from being frayed on the rocks. It was to be let out to its
full length, or until the lightened weight showed that Zeke had found
support. It was to be pulled in, in the latter case, after three tugs
on it by him. Zeke went boldly, it is true, but now, since he had
appreciated Uncle Dick's warning, he went with painstaking carefulness
as well. He realized that on his care might now depend the life of the
girl he loved. So, he moved downward with increasing slowness, as the
curve of the