himself
up, moving as it were upon a pivot, that pivot being the base of his
spine.

"There," he cried triumphantly, as the result of his effort was that he
was sitting upright on the ledge with his feet in the air, but not
swinging, for he pressed his heels hard against the rock beneath him, as
he glanced sidewise to think of how he was to make his next movement.

"Chris! Ahoy! Chris!" came faintly from below, and at the same moment
there was a sharp crack, and the ledge upon which he was sitting gave
way, dropping down with its burden, many feet on either side of him
parting clean from the wall of rock, just as if it had been riven off by
some mighty wedge.

CHAPTER FORTY THREE.

A WELCOME WORD.

Chris's lips parted for a cry to escape, but his teeth remained fast
set, and there was not a sound for the moment. He was conscious of
dropping rapidly down without the slightest change in his position, and
then there was a dull heavy shock, when the apparently solid piece of
ledge, after being exposed to the atmosphere for ages, crumbled into
dust and went on downward with a curious whispering rush along a steep
slope instead of over a perpendicular wall. Choking with the dust which
arose, rolled over and over and half blinded, Chris was stunned by the
confusion of the rush, for how long he could not tell, and then there
was a sudden stoppage, and he lay half buried in the _debris_ of the
little earthen avalanche.

For a few moments the lad was too much stunned to attempt to move, and
lay motionless, trying to pierce the thick dust which closed him in.
Then the horror and dread of his position came upon him with terrible
force, and he began to struggle violently, increasing the dust, but
getting first one arm and then the other free. Then matters grew more
easy; he dragged himself sidewise, and shovelfuls of the _debris_
dropped from his hips, while he could feel that his legs were looser.
Then another desperate struggle, and he was on the outside of the
sloping heap, but only to set the surface in motion again and roll and
glide down and down and over and over once more, till he was brought up
short in the narrowest part of a wedge-shaped mountain cleft, to begin
struggling again, trampling as if rapidly ascending stairs, to avoid
being buried by the gliding rubbish still in motion and filling up the
bottom of the rift.

The dust was still forming a cloud, but it was floating away, leaving
the bare side