With eyes shut and heart beating he clung to the rock, and prayed that Dick might not slip. It seemed an hour of waiting until he heard a loud gasp at his side, and Dick's voice panting out: 'Wal, I reckon that's summat of a crawl, but blow me if I think Natur' ever meant me to do them bluebottle tricks.' As he spoke it seemed as if a thaw had suddenly set in in Snap's heart, the relief was so great, and, clinging hard to the rocks, they both laughed until the boys in the crevice heard them, and wished that they were there to share in the merriment. 'Wal, now, Snap, what next? You couldn't set us an easier one this time, now, could you?' asked Dick. 'Yes, Dick, it's not so bad this time, it's only what mountaineers call a chimney, and then we shall be there.' 'Oh, only a chimney, he says,' muttered Dick; 'fust you turns bluebottle, then you turns sweep--all quite natural, of course--and then you're there. And, unless we turn balloonatics when we git there, there, it seems to me, we'll stick!' 'You follow me, Dick,' said Snap, 'and do as I do; shove your elbows and knees against the opposite sides of the crack as soon as you have room to, and wriggle up.' Dick obeyed, talking away to himself all the while, so that, had the danger been less, the inclination to laugh would have taken the strength out of Snap's arms and let him down with a crash. 'Look out for stones, Dick!' cried Snap all at once, as a few great fragments of granite came rattling down. 'All right, sonny,' cried the voice from below; 'never mind the "sut," but tell us when the top brick's a-comin'.' 'Now, Dick,' said Snap, after about fifty feet of this work, 'you'll have to shove your back and hands against one side and your feet against the other, like this, and shove your way up so.' 'All right, pard, I understand: I've got to sit on about 5,000 feet of nothing at all and keep going up'ards. Quite simple. Go ahead!' 'Hang it, Dick, do be serious,' replied Snap, laughing. 'Well, so I am, ain't I?' replied the old man; 'you don't suppose I'm here for enjoyment, do you?' Snap, looking down between his legs at the cowboy below him, would have exploded with laughter had he dared to. The old chap was growling away to himself, and puffing and blowing with the unusual exercise, but gripping the rock with hands like eagles' claws, and pushing with his strong legs until, as Snap told him afterwards, he was in momentary dread of seeing the opposite wall come down. 'Now hold on a bit, Dick,' cried the voice above after a pause, 'and toss that lariat up my way if you can.' There was a good deal of grumbling, but at last the lariat lay across Snap's legs, and, getting hold of it, he made cast after cast at a little spike of rock some ten feet above him. It was difficult shooting with a noose at such a mark in such a position, and he heartily wished old Dick could change places with him. But that was impossible.