The two ladies drew back shuddering. Blake looked about at them and seeing their troubled faces, sought to quiet their dread. "You have not looked close enough," he said. "With spikes and ropes, the worst of this will be comparatively easy. There are ledges and crevices all the way down. You cannot see the lower half. When I was here with Gowan and Mr. Knowles, the sun was shining to the bottom. The lower half of the descent is much less steep than this you see." Genevieve smiled trustfully. "Oh, if you say it is safe, Tom!" "We shall take down the rope and all the spikes we can carry," he explained in further reassurance. "At the worst places a spike and a piece of the rope will not only let us down safely, but can be left for our ascent." "Then it will be all right!" sighed Isobel. "For him--yes!" broke in Ashton, his voice harsh and strained. He was cringing back, white-faced, from the edge of the gulch. "Why, Lafe!" exclaimed the girl. "If Tom--Mr. Blake goes down, surely you can't mean that you--" "He's used to climbing--I'm not!" Ashton sought to excuse himself. "Oh, very well," she said. "Of course it is not right to ask you to do it if you suffer from vertigo. I shall ask Kid to take your place. If he refuses, Daddy will do it." "That may mean delay," remarked Blake. "If that scoundrel really is headed for Utah, your father may not be back for several days. Yet he asked me to settle this matter as soon as possible." "Then, if Kid will not go down with you, I shall," declared the girl, her blue eyes flashing. "No, no indeed, dear!" protested Genevieve. "It is simply impossible! You shall not do it!" "I shall, unless Kid--" "You shall not ask him!" interposed Ashton, his pale face suddenly flushing a hot red. "I am going down!" "You will, Lafayette?" cried Genevieve. "That is very brave and--and kind of you!" "But if you have no experience in climbing?" objected Isobel in a tone that transmuted the young man's angry flush into a glow of delight. "Don't inexperienced climbers go up the Alps with guides?" he nonchalantly replied. "I can trust Blake to get me safe to the bottom. He will need me in his business." "Good for you, Lafe!" commended Blake. It was the first time that he had ever addressed Ashton so familiarly. He accompanied it with the proffer of his hand. But Ashton did not look at him. He was basking in the frankly admiring gaze of Miss Knowles. The party returned in the same manner that they had come out, for Isobel firmly refused to permit Ashton to walk. Blake allowed her to set the pace, and she chose such a rapid one that they reached camp a full half hour before sunset. A few minutes later, as they were sitting down to a hastily prepared supper, Gowan appeared with the second load from the lower camp. Blake and Ashton sprang up to loosen the packs of the sweating, panting horses. The puncher swung down from his saddle, not to assist them, but to remonstrate with Isobel.