Page:Alaska days with John Muir.djvu/51

 Rh Now I heard Muir's voice, low and steady, close to me, and it seemed a little below. "Hold steady," he said. "I'll have to swing you out over the cliff." Then I felt a careful hand on my back, fumbling with the waistband of my pants, my vest and shirt, gathering all in a firm grip. I could see only with one eye and that looked upon but a foot or two of gravel on the other side. "Now!" he said, and I slid out of the cleft with a rattling shower of stones and gravel. My head swung down, my impotent arms dangling, and I stared straight at the glacier, a thousand feet below. Then my feet came against the cliff. "Work downwards with your feet."

I obeyed. He drew me close to him by crooking his arm and as my head came up past his level he caught