The Leopard Hunts In Darkness Part 89

We are finished, unless--'he broke off.

"What is it? Unless what?"

"Unless one of the girls will come up and help me." There was silence in the darkness below him.

"I'll come,"Tungata broke the silence.

"No good. You are too heavy. I couldn't hold you." Silence again, and then Sally' Anne said, "Tell me what to do."

"Tie on to the end of the rope. Use a bowline knot."

"Okay."

"All right, come out across the pole. I'll be holding you." Peering down he could see her silhouetted against the glow of the fire, as she worked her way across.

He took up the slack in the rope carefully, ready to jam it if she fell.

"I'm across."

"Can you find the crack?"

"Yes.

"I'm going to pull you up. You must help me by pushing with your toes in the crck." Okay.

"Go!" He felt her full weight come on the rope, and it bit into his shoulder.

"Push up!" he ordered, and as he felt the load lighten, he grabbed the slack.

"Push!" She came up another four inches.

"Push!" It seemed to go on and on, and then she screamed and the rope burned out in a hard, heavy run across his shoulder. He was almost jerked out of his niche.

He fought it, jamming hard, feeling the skin smear off his palms on the harsh nylon until he stopped it. Sally Anne was still screaming, and the rope pendulumed back and forth as she swung sideways along the wall.

"Shut up!" he roared at her. "Get a hold of yourself." She stopped screaming, and gradually her swings became shorter.

"I lost my footing." Her voice was almost a sob.

"Can you find the crack again?"

"Yes."

"All right, tell me when you are ready."

"Ready!"

"Push up!" He thought it would never end, and then he felt her hand touch his leg.

"You made it," he whispered. "You marvelous b.l.o.o.d.y female." He made a s.p.a.ce for her in the chimney below him and he helped her into it. He showed her how to wedge herself securely, and then he held her shoulder, squeezing hard.

I can't go any further." Her first words after she recovered.

"That was the worst, the rest is easy." He wouldn't tell her about the window not yet.

"Listen to the bats," he cheered her instead. "The surface must be close, very close. Think of that first glimpse of sunlight, that first breath of sweet dry air."

"I'm ready to go on," she said at last, and he led her up the chimney.

As soon as it was wide enough to cross over, he made her climb ahead of him so that he could place her feet with his hands, and help her to push upwards when the chimney became too wide for her to be able to exert her full strength.

"Craig. Craig! It's closed. It has pinched in. It's a dead end." Her panic was just below the surface and he could feel she was shaking as she choked down her sobs.

"Stop it," he snapped. "Just one more effort. just one, I promise you." He waited for her to quieten, then he went on, "There is a window in the wall just above your head, just around the corner of the chimney. Only a foot or two-" I won't be able to reach it."

"Yes! Yes, you will. I'm going to make a bridge for you with my body. You will stand on my stomach, you'll reach it easily. Do you hear me? Sally-Anne, answer me."

"No." Very small and faint. "I can't do it." "Then none of us are going anywhere," he said sharply.

"It's the only way out. You do it or we rot here. Do you hear me?" He worked up close beneath her, so that her sagging b.u.t.tocks were pressed into his belly. Then he braced with all his strength, pressing with both legs into one side of the chimney and with his shoulders into the other, forming a human bridge beneath her.

"Slowly let go," he whispered. "Sit on my stomach."

"Craig, I'm too heavy."

"Do it, d.a.m.n you. Do id" Her weight came onto him, and the pain was too much to bear. His sinews and muscles were tearing, his vision filled with flashing lights.

"Now straighten up,"he blurted.

She came up onto her -knees; her kneecaps bit into his flesh like crucifixion n.41s.

"Stand!"he groaned. Quickly!" She tottered on the unsteady platform of his body as she came upright.

"Reach up! High as you can!"

"Craig, there is a hole up here!" "Can you get into it?" No reply. She shifted her stance on him, and he cried aloud with the effort of holding her.

She bounced, and then her weight was gone. He heard her feet scrabbling against the shaft and the brush of the rope as she drained herself upwards and it followed her likea monkey's tail.

"Craig, it's a shelf a cave!"

"Find somewhere to tie your end of the rope." A minute, and another he couldn't hold out, his limbs were numb, his shoulders were'I've tied it! It's safe." He tugged on the rope and it came up firm and secure.

He took a loop around his wrist and let his feet go. He swung out of the chimney and dangled into the open shaft.

He pulled himself up the rope, hand over hand, and then he tumbled over the sill into the stone window, and Sally-Anne hugged him to her bosom. Too far gone to speak, he clung to her likea child to its mother.

"What is happening up there?" Tungata could not contain his impatience.