[212]
“Can you hold on, Tad? Kitty is coming up!”
“Guess I’ve got to!” he called rather faintly. “Tell Kitty to hurry up!”
“He’s almost to you now,” shouted Rodney encouragingly. Then he moved around and hailed Kitty. “He’s all right so far, but he wants you to hurry, Kitty!” There was no response from Kitty, but the latter went on steadily8, his stockinged feet finding incredible footholds, and his hands seeming to glue themselves to the sheer surface of the granite9. A jutting10 elbow of rock still hid Tad from his sight as, reaching the shallow fissure11, he used knees as well as feet and found himself presently but a scant12 four yards from the summit. Then it was plain to be seen why Tad had come to grief. After emerging from the fissure, instead of keeping straight up he had worked to the left, taking advantage of a crack into which he could thrust his toes, evidently in the expectation of reaching a projecting point of rock some twelve feet beyond. Had he gained the boulder13 he[213] could easily have pulled himself to the top and so gained the final summit. But, unfortunately, the crack had narrowed speedily and at last, having set his right foot on the last foothold, he could go no further. Nor, since his grip of the rock above him was none too secure, did he dare remove the weight of his body from that right foot to work back the way he had come. All this Kitty saw, as, panting with the rapidity of his ascent14, he paused at the top of the fissure. Tad was about level with him, but separated by some eight feet of rock.
“Keep your head,” he said shortly. “Be there in a minute.”
“Hello, Kitty!” Tad tried to speak lightly, but the strain of sticking there like a limpet to the almost straight up and down face of the ledge was beginning to tell, and his voice shook a little. “I’m in a fix,” he added. “Can’t get one way or t’other. See any place I can stick this left foot, old man?”
“No. Stay where you are a minute. Can you hold on?”
“Got to, haven’t I?” responded Tad grimly. “If you can do anything, Kitty, do it quick,[214] though. My fingers are numb15, and this right foot of mine is about all in.”
“All right.” But Kitty, frowning and blinking, studying the situation with sharp, quick glances, was stumped16. To reach Tad from above seemed the most feasible plan, but in that case he would have to lower a rope or something to the other, and Kitty much doubted whether Tad would be able to grasp it, or, having grasped it, be able to hold on to it long enough to be pulled over the edge. Kitty knew from experience just how a fellow’s muscles felt after clinging to one position for many minutes. To reach Tad by following in his footsteps across the rock was easy, but what help could Kitty lend him when he was there? Kitty’s gaze fell finally to the ledge below Tad’s precarious17 perch18, and at that moment Tad spoke19 again.
“You there, Kitty?” he asked. Evidently he was afraid to turn his head to look for fear the movement would dislodge one of the straining hands.
“Yes,” replied Kitty.
“Can’t you—do anything?” panted Tad anxiously.
[215]
“Yes. Hold on a minute more, Tad.”
“I will—if I can,” answered Tad in a weak voice.
“You’ve got to,” said Kitty. He was already scrambling back down the fissure. Rodney, watching below with a thumping20 heart, groaned21. It looked as though Kitty had given up. But at the bottom of the fissure Kitty paused, gripped the rock with both hands, and sent one gray-stockinged foot searching to the left for a projection23. At last he found it, tested it, paused an instant, and then wormed his body from the fissure and out against the blank wall of rock. The granite was loose and crumbly thereabouts and a little shower of gravel24 trickled25 down. Kitty studied the rock beyond. Here and there small inequalities gave faint promise of affording hold for feet and hands, but from where Rodney stood below the journey across that steep face of rock looked hopeless and foolhardy. Matty and May had ceased watching. At a little distance under the shadow of the Rock they stood white faced and miserable26.
“Kitty’s trying to get across to him lower down,” announced Rodney to them. “I don’t[216] see how he can do it though. It doesn’t look as if—” Rodney’s voice broke off short and a gasp27 escaped him. Kitty, in taking his weight from one foot, had placed too much reliance on a tiny projection above him and a nodule of granite had broken off in his hand. For an instant he had swayed dangerously before, summoning his strength, he had thrown his body against the rock. Then during a heartbreaking moment he clung there while his disengaged hand travelled here and there above him, the clutching fingers seeking a new hold. They found it at last and Rodney’s fast beating heart leaped with relief. How Kitty ever made the journey across that seemingly smooth face of granite will always remain a mystery to the others. Afterwards Kitty himself acknowledged that he didn’t believe he could do it again, adding with conviction, “Sure I don’t want to try!” But across it he went, at a snail’s pace to be sure, but steadily. And at last he was directly under Tad, and by reaching one hand upward could touch that youth’s heel.
“I’m under you, Tad,” panted Kitty.
“I know,” answered Tad.
[217]
“Hold on a second longer while I get my breath,” instructed the rescuer. There was no reply to this. Tad had no energy to waste in talk. Kitty remained very still while one might have counted fifty. Then, flattened against the wall of rock, his stockinged feet set on tiny roughened angles and the fingers of his left hand clutching a point of rock above his head, he reached his right hand upward until it was under Tad’s hanging foot.
“My hand is under your left foot, Tad,” he said quietly. “Find it.”
Very gingerly Tad moved the dangling28 rubber soled “sneaker” to and fro, until at last it settled into the palm of the upstretched hand.
“All right,” instructed Kitty. “Put your weight on it slowly.”
“Can you hold it?” asked Tad anxiously.
“Yes. All ready? Now!” He braced29 himself as the weight of Tad’s body came against him. His toes were cutting cruelly against the rough granite, and his left hand strained about its precarious hold.
“Now move your other foot further to your[218] right and get a new grip with it. Straight along, Tad.”
“Do as I say,” said Kitty gruffly. “Find the crevice with it. Got it?”
“I—I think so.”
“Put your weight on it carefully and see. I can’t look up.”
There was an instant of silence. Then,
“It’s all right,” sighed Tad. “I’m going to get a new hold with my hands, Kitty.”
“One at a time,” said Kitty. “Go slow. I can hold you for awhile.”
“I’ve moved one,” said Tad presently. “It—it’s sort of weak though, I guess——”
“Work the fingers and get the blood back. Better?”
“Y-yes.”
“Now get your other over.”
The weight on Kitty’s hand increased for an instant. Then Tad announced that he had moved his left hand over. “I guess I can get that foot into the crack now,” he said nervously30.
[219]
“All right. Go easy though. Try your weight on the other first. How is it?”
“All right. Here goes, Kitty.”
There was a moment of hesitation31. Then the weight on Kitty’s hand was gone, there was a gasp from Tad, and Kitty, finding a hold with the released hand, dared to look up. Tad’s feet were both thrust into the crevice, and Kitty gave a sigh of relief. Tad’s legs were trembling and Kitty could hear his quick breathing above him.
“Stay where you are now until I tell you to go on,” said Kitty. “You’re perfectly32 safe, but you’d better rest a bit.”
“I—know,” replied Tad faintly.
There was a hail from the ground. “Are you all right, Kitty?” shouted Rodney anxiously.
“Yes! Be down in a minute or two. Get my shoes and the coats from the ledge, Rod! Now then, Tad, start along to the big crack in the rock. Make sure of your holds, though, before you put all your weight on them. I’ll follow below, and if you want help, sing out.”
Tad made slow work of it, but at that it was all Kitty could do to make similar progress.[220] Tad had easy going compared with Kitty, and it was only the fact that his nerves were pretty well unstrung and his muscles quivering that allowed his rescuer to reach the fissure at the same moment. Once there Tad braced his knees against the sides of the cavity and looked for a moment very much as though he was going to faint away.
Kitty, seeing the danger, shouted a warning from below.
“None of that, you idiot!” he called sharply. “Brace up or you’ll fall! Here, put a foot on my shoulder for a minute. Now take a dozen good long breaths.”
“I—can’t!” muttered Tad.
“You can! When I count now! One—two—three— Doing it?”
“Yes, but—it makes me dizzy.”
“Stop, then, and close your eyes a minute. If you’d take decent care of your lungs,” went on Kitty grumblingly33, “they wouldn’t mind a little pure air!”
“Come on down now. Feel pretty good?”
[221]
“I guess so. Yes, I’m all right. Go ahead, Kitty.”
Tad followed to the end of the slanting35 fissure and then began the scramble36 down and around the corner. When they were near the ledge Kitty called, “Don’t try getting to the ledge. Come straight down. There’s good going. Watch me.”
Tad watched and followed and in another minute the two boys dropped into a bed of sweet fern, Kitty on his feet and Tad on his back. “Don’t mind—me,” muttered Tad, closing his eyes. “I—I’m sort of done up, I guess.” Then his white face suddenly went whiter still and Matty, who, closely followed by May, had run up in Rodney’s wake, exclaimed, “Oh, Rod, he’s fainted!”
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收听单词发音
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1
ledge
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| n.壁架，架状突出物；岩架，岩礁 | |
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2
scrambling
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| v.快速爬行( scramble的现在分词 )；攀登；争夺；（军事飞机）紧急起飞 | |
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3
flattened
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| [医]（水）平扁的，弄平的 | |
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4
desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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5
crevice
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| n.(岩石、墙等)裂缝；缺口 | |
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6
horrified
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| a.(表现出)恐惧的 | |
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7
wan
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| (wide area network)广域网 | |
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8
steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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9
granite
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| adj.花岗岩，花岗石 | |
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10
jutting
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| v.（使）突出( jut的现在分词 )；伸出；（从…）突出；高出 | |
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11
fissure
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| n.裂缝；裂伤 | |
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12
scant
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| adj.不充分的，不足的；v.减缩，限制，忽略 | |
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13
boulder
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| n.巨砾；卵石，圆石 | |
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14
ascent
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| n.(声望或地位)提高；上升，升高；登高 | |
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15
numb
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| adj.麻木的，失去感觉的；v.使麻木 | |
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16
stumped
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| 僵直地行走，跺步行走( stump的过去式和过去分词 )； 把（某人）难住； 使为难； （选举前）在某一地区作政治性巡回演说 | |
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17
precarious
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| adj.不安定的，靠不住的；根据不足的 | |
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18
perch
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| n.栖木，高位，杆；v.栖息，就位，位于 | |
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19
spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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20
thumping
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| adj.重大的，巨大的；重击的；尺码大的；极好的adv.极端地；非常地v.重击(thump的现在分词)；狠打；怦怦地跳；全力支持 | |
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21
groaned
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| v.呻吟( groan的过去式和过去分词 )；发牢骚；抱怨；受苦 | |
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22
groan
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| vi./n.呻吟，抱怨；(发出)呻吟般的声音 | |
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23
projection
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| n.发射，计划，突出部分 | |
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24
gravel
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| n.砂跞；砂砾层；结石 | |
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25
trickled
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| v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动 | |
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26
miserable
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| adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的 | |
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27
gasp
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| n.喘息，气喘；v.喘息；气吁吁他说 | |
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28
dangling
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| 悬吊着( dangle的现在分词 )； 摆动不定； 用某事物诱惑…； 吊胃口 | |
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29
braced
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| adj.拉牢的v.支住( brace的过去式和过去分词 )；撑牢；使自己站稳；振作起来 | |
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30
nervously
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| adv.神情激动地，不安地 | |
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31
hesitation
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| n.犹豫，踌躇 | |
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32
perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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33
grumblingly
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| 喃喃报怨着，发牢骚着 | |
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34
grunted
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| （猪等）作呼噜声( grunt的过去式和过去分词 )； （指人）发出类似的哼声； 咕哝着说 | |
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35
slanting
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| 倾斜的，歪斜的 | |
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36
scramble
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| v.爬行，攀爬，杂乱蔓延，碎片，片段，废料 | |
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