."

It was one of Mrs Linacre's clothes' baskets, which was slung upon the
rope; and Roger was in it. He did not stay a minute. He threw to
Oliver a line which was fastened to the end of the basket, with which he
might pull it over, from the window to the tree, when emptied of Roger.
He was then to put Mildred into the basket, carefully keeping hold of
the line, in order to pull it back for himself when his sister should be
safely landed. Ailwin held a line fastened to the other end of the
basket, with which to pull it the other way.

Oliver was overjoyed. He said he had never seen anything so clever; and
he asked Mildred whether she could possibly be afraid of riding over in
this safe little carriage. He told her how to help her passage by
pulling herself along the bridge-rope, as he called it, instead of
hindering her progress by clinging to the rope as she sat in the basket.
Taking care not to let go the line for a moment, he again examined the
knots of the longer rope, and found they were all fast. In a few
minutes he began hauling in his line, and the empty basket came over
very easily.

"How shall I get in?" asked Mildred, trembling.

"Here," said Oliver, stooping his back to her. "Climb upon my back.
Now hold by the tree, and stand upon my shoulders. Don't be afraid.
You are light enough. Now, can't you step in?"

Feeling how much depended upon this, the little girl managed it. She
tumbled into the basket, took a lesson from Oliver how to help her own
passage, and earnestly begged him to take care of his line, that nothing
might prevent his following her immediately. Then came a great tug, and
she felt herself drawn back into the darkness. She did not like it at
all. The water roared louder than ever as she hung over it; and the
light which was cast upon it from the fire showed how rapidly it was
shooting beneath. Then she saw Oliver go, and throw some more chips and
twigs on the fire; and she knew by that that he could see her no longer.
She worked as hard as she could, putting her hands one behind the other
along the rope: but her hands were weak, and her head was very dizzy.
She had had nothing to eat since breakfast, and was quite tired out.

While still keeping her eyes upon Oliver, she felt a jerk. The basket
knocked against something; and it made her quite sick. She immediately
heard Ailwin's voice saying, "'tis one of them, that's certain. Well!
If I didn't think it was some vile co