Part 58 (2/2)

On they whizzed, ice beneath them and before them, and ice in Leonard's heart, for he was frozen with fear His breath had left hiress, but his senses relanced over the edge of the stone, saw the sheer depths below hi as the law that kept their sledge upon this ribbon of ice, when it seeap was immediately in front of theht, for there was no time for words, and they had left the road of ice and were flying through the air as though the stone which carried theathered up its energies and sprung forward for its life

What happened? Leonard never knew for certain, and Otter swore that his heart leaped from his bosom and stood in front of his eyes so that he could not see Before they touched the further point of ice--while they were in the air, indeed--they, or rather Leonard, heard a hideous scream, and felt a jerk so violent that his hold of the stone was loosened, and it passed froht have been expected, and lo! they were spinning onwards down the polished surface of the ice, while the stone which had borne them so far sped on in front like a horse that has thrown its rider

Leonard felt the rubbing of the ice burn him like hot iron He felt also that his ankle was freed from the hand that had held it, then for some minutes he knew no more, for his senses left him When they returned, it was to hear the voice of Otter crying, ”Lie still, lie still, Baas, do not stir for your life; I co his head ever so little, saw their situation Then he wished that he had remained asleep, for it was this:

The impetus of their rush had carried them almost to the line where the ice stopped and the rock and snow began, within some fifteen feet of it, indeed But those fifteen feet were of the smoothest ice and very sheer, so smooth and sheer that no man could hope to climb them Below them the slope continued for about thirteen or fourteen yards, till it e

On this surface of ice they were lying spread-eagled For a moment Leonard wondered hoas that they did not slide back to the bottom of the slope, there to remain till they perished, for without ropes and proper i could scale it Then he saw that a chance had befallen them, which in after-days he ont to attribute to the direct intervention of Providence

It will be remembered that when they started, Leonard had pushed the rock off with a spear which Olfan had given the it between his chest and the stone, for he thought that itthe gulf When they were jerked fro the ice on the further side of the gap, in obedience to the ihtful speed at which they were travelling, the spear, obeying the sa of a less specific gravity, lagged behind in the race, just as the stone, which was heaviest, outstripped them

As it happened, near the top of the rise there was a fissure in the ice, and in this fissure the weapon had becoht position When the senseless bodies of Leonard and Juanna had slid as far up the slope as the unexpended energy of their ian to ravity Then it was, as luck would have it, that the spear, fixed in the crevice of the ice, saved them from destruction; for it chanced that the descent of their two for on either side of it, was checked by the handle of the weapon, which caught the hide rope whereby they were bound together

All of this Leonard took in by degrees; also he discovered that Juanna was either dead or senseless, at the ti to do?” he asked of Otter, who by noas on the verge of the ice fifteen feet above them

”Cut steps and pull you up, Baas,” answered the dwarf cheerfully

”It will not be easy,” said Leonard, glancing over his shoulder at the long slope beneath, ”and if we slip or the rope breaks----”

”Do not talk of slipping, Baas,” replied Otter, as he began to hack at the ice with the priest's heavy knife, ”and as for the rope, if it was strong enough for the Water-Dweller to drag h to hold you two, although it has seen some wear I only wish I had such another, for then thisfuriously, Otter hacked at the hard surface of the ice The first two steps he hollowed fro on his stomach After this difficulties presented themselves which seemed insuperable, for he could not chip at the ice when he had nothing by which to support himself

”What is to be done now?” said Leonard

”Keep cool, Baas, and give me time to think,” and for a moment Otter squatted down and was silent

”I have it,” he said presently, and rising he took off his goat-skin cloak and cut it into strips, each stripabout two inches in width by two feet six inches in length These strips he knotted together firh to reach to where Leonard and Juanna were suspended on the stout handle of the spear

Then he took the stake which had already done hi its point, fixed it as deeply as he could into the snow and earth on the border of the ice belt, and tied the skin rope to it

”Now, Baas,” he said, ”all is well, for I can begin from the bottom”

And, without further words, he let hi beside the at Juanna's pale face and closed eyes, ”or does she only sleep?”

”I think that she is in a swoon,” answered Leonard; ”but for heaven's sake be quick, Otter, for I a frozen on this ice What is your plan now?”

”This, Baas: to tie about your middle the end of the rope that I have made from the cloak, then to undo the cord that binds you and the Shepherdess together, and return to the top of the slope Once there I can pull her up by the hide line, for it is strong, and she will slip easily over the ice, and you can follow”

”Good!” said Leonard

Then hanging by one hand the dwarf ive him, to knot beneath Leonard's arms the end of the rope which he had constructed froarment Next he set to work to untie the hide cord, thereby freeing hierous part of the task, for Leonard, suspended from the shaft of the spear by one hand, must support Juanna's senseless for hi the hide line in his teeth The spear bent dreadfully, and Leonard did not dare to put any extra strain upon the roughly fastened cord of goat-skin, by which the das hauling hiave they must all be precipitated to the dip below, there to perish miserably Faint and frozen as he was, it seemed hours to hio of Juanna