Page:Dave Porter and his Classmates.djvu/147

Rh taken just seven he fell on his hands and knees, clutching the sides of the plank tightly.

"Ho—how long is—is it? " he asked, his teeth commencing to chatter. "I—I ain't used to climbing in such places. It—it makes me dizzy!"

"Go on! go on!"

"The plank is only fifty-four feet long," said one boy.

"Oh, my! fifty-four feet; I'll go down—I know I will!"

Slowly, and clutching the plank with a deathlike grip, Tom Atwood moved forward a distance of eighteen feet. Then the plank came to an end. He put out one hand after the other, but felt only the empty air.

"I—I don't feel the rest o—of th—the bridge!" he chattered.

"It is gone!" cried one boy, in a disguised voice. "Turn around and come back."

"But be careful how you turn, or the board may wabble and let you drop," added another.

More scared than ever, Tom Atwood turned around very gingerly. Once he thought the board was going over, and he set up a yell of fright. Then slowly and painfully he came back over the plank until he reached the solid ground once more.

"Hurrah!" cried the Gee Eyes. "Bravely done, Tom!"

"Now you are one of us!"