Springing to her feet, she hurried desperately along the top in the
direction which the track seemed to take, and at length, with a gasping
sigh of relief, came to a wide fissure that slanted down to meet it.
She was sure-footed as a deer, her slim, supple body balancing itself
almost instinctively, but even so the traversing of that narrow, rocky
ledge, in parts not more than a foot wide, was a severe test of her
endurance. A single false step meant death, instantaneous and inevitable,
and the whole terrible ten minutes which it took her to complete the short
distance was poignant with the dread of what she might discover at its end.
Moving very cautiously, her bare hands sliding across the rough face of
the rock as she edged her way forward, she came at last to where the ledge
widened out and the ground above sloped gently upwards. A few steps more
and she could see Tony's young, supine figure. The last three yards were
accomplished at a run, and an instant later she was kneeling beside him,
thrusting swift, urgent hands beneath his shirt to feel whether his heart
still beat. The throb of it came softly against her palms--warm, and
pulsatingly _alive_!
Ann rocked a little on her knees.
Pages:
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61