"Can you hold out while I lower the lanthorn as far as the string will
go?"
"Yes."
The light descended like a star going down into another firmament of as
deep and dark a blue as that above; and as Saxe watched he saw it
reflected from the dark walls. Then lower, lower, and down and down,
till suddenly it stopped.
"That is all the string--a hundred yards. Can you see him now!"
"No!" said Saxe hoarsely.
"You can see nothing!"
"Only the lamp swinging and the ice shining."
"Hold fast!" cried Dale, and the rope began to quiver in a peculiar way,
as if it were receiving a series of jerks; but Saxe guessed that this
must mean that it was being hauled up handover-hand. There was no one
gazing down at him now, and he had a full view of the blue strip of sky,
which now grew broader and broader, till, after what seemed to have been
a very long ascent, the top of the crevasse was reached.
"Now," said Dale, "reach over as far as you can, and drive in the pick
of your axe."
Saxe obeyed.
"Now try and draw yourself up. That's right. I've got hold of the
rope. Now--together! That's right."
There was a heavy tug, and as some more snow rattled down into the gulf
Saxe was drawn over the edge on to the surface, where the first thing he
noticed was the fact that the other end of the rope had been fastened
round Dale's waist and passed round the ashen handle, so that when Dale
had lain down he had been able to support Saxe, and yet leave his hands
free.
"Untie yourself," said Dale gravely. "I am going to draw up the
lanthorn."
"And what are you going to do then?" asked Saxe, who lay on the snow
panting, as if he had just gone through some very great exertion.
"Go back and give notice. Get together two or three guides, and consult
with them as to what is best to be done."
"Then you give him up?" said Saxe mournfully.
Dale looked at him in silence, for there seemed to be no answer needed
to such a question, as he slowly wound in the string which held the
lanthorn.
"Now, back to the valley as fast as we can," said Dale, as he dragged
his ice-axe out of the crack and threw the rope over his shoulder, and
glanced round at the sky. "Got the lanthorn and string?"
"Yes," replied Saxe; "but we cannot get there before night."
"We cannot get any farther than the camp before dark, my boy," said Dale
sadly. "It is impossible to go on then. We must wait there till
daybreak, and then go for help."
"One minute, sir," said Saxe; but it was three or four before he could
go on.
"Yes," said Dale.
"I only wanted to ask whether you think he is dead!"
"I'd give five years of my life, boy, to be able to say no; but I
cannot!"