AND DUDGEON SMILED 181 



move. It was when I tried to progress that the 

 strain became too great. The Banker had van- 

 ished. Dudgeon was somewhere far above me 

 whistling ^^My Bonnie," and there I clung, a mere 

 gastropod. I doubt if, in those awful moments, 

 I had any more intelligence than a vegetable. All 

 I felt was fear — fear of those spear-like rocks 

 down there below me. 



What a curious thing pride is! If I had been 

 alone with Dudgeon I should have called for rope 

 and tackle and a hoisting engine. But the Banker 

 had passed before me, and so, however Dudgeon 

 smiled, I could not quit. 



I knew that, at the very top, awaited me that 

 terrible rocky slide, almost perpendicular and 

 slimed with past ages of moisture. When I 

 thought of that I was ready to die, but when I had 

 attained it, there, hanging from the top of the 

 path, was a rope. 



Believe me, that no triple tie, no chain of logic, 

 nothing that impUes continuity, clinging, connec- 

 tion, or anything else that begins with a capital 

 C, ever looked so good. 



