"If you can't do as I say I must send for another rope." "No, no, it would be horrible to leave the poor fellow; he'd slip off the rock." "Then you must stay with him." "Very well, sir," said Lennox after a short pause. "Ha! I think I can do it now I've found room to kneel." "Bravo!" shouted Dickenson. "Will you be silent, Mr Dickenson?" cried the captain.--"Now, Lennox, what are you doing?" "Trying to get this knot undone, sir; it's so tight." At the end of a minute he cried, "I can't move the knot. I'm going to pass it over my head, and then make a noose and slip it round the corporal." "Can you do that?" "Yes, sir, I think so. Now slacken away all you can, but keep a tight hold in case I have to snatch at it again." "Oh yes, they'll keep a tight hold.--Do you hear, Sergeant James?" "Oh yes, sir, I hear," growled the sergeant, whose face glistened with the perspiration that streamed down from the gathering-place--his brow. "How are you getting on?" cried the captain. "Don't talk to me, please," panted Lennox. "I'm doing my best." There was a pause, and then, "I've got it off, and I'm going to pass it over his neck and shoulders now. It will compress his chest, but I can't help it." "Don't study that; only get it fast. Ready?" continued the captain after another pause. "Not quite yet. It is hard to get the loop over. I have to bend down to reach with one hand, and hold on with the other." "Go on," said the captain. A strange rustling sound came up, and then it seemed as if the rope was being flapped against the rock. "Can't you do it?" shouted the captain. "Not yet. I'm obliged to rest a minute." "Oh dear! oh dear me!" panted Captain Roby in a tone of voice that seemed to suggest other words which indicated his idea that the young subaltern was very awkward. "Got it at last!" came up. "I think so. Yes, I have him tight--right past his arms; he can't slip. Now, haul!" "Haul!" echoed Captain Roby. "Quick!" But Sergeant James knew better than that. The rope had to pass through his cautious hands, and he raised it gently. "All right, sir?" he asked. "Yes; haul," cried Lennox. "You have him now. Right; you're lifting him right off. I'll hold on to the rock. Be sharp, for it's a very awkward--" The young subaltern's words were cut short at that moment by a most horrible, unearthly-sounding yell; for the tightening of the rope about the unfortunate corporal, and the steady strain as he was lifted from where he had lain so long, had the effect of arousing his dormant energies. Not realising that he was being helped, he had no sooner uttered his cry of horror than, as if suddenly galvanised into life, he began to struggle violently, tearing, kicking, and catching at something to hold on to for dear life.