line could not tighten and pinch, and still was tight enough to hold
Bobby securely.

"Now," said Jimmy, indicating a high bowlder, "I'll bring the line
around this rock, so I'll have a purchase on it and it can't slip away
from me, and let it out as you climb down. You holler when you want to
stop and holler when you want to come up."

The plan worked admirably for a while. Very slowly Bobby descended,
calling out now and again for Jimmy to "hold" while he picked eggs from
nests on shelving rocks.

At last his bag was full, and he was ready to ascend.

"All right, Jimmy. Pull up now," he called.

Jimmy pulled, but pull as he would he could not budge Bobby one inch. He
did not dare release the line where it made its turn around the
bowlder, for without the leverage he feared the line would get away from
him, in which case Bobby would crash to the bottom of the cliff. So
Jimmy pulled desperately. But it was of no avail, and presently he took
another turn of the line around the bowlder, and secured it so that it
could not slip, and ran forward.

Bobby was shouting to be drawn up, and Jimmy, throwing himself upon his
face and peering down over the edge of the cliff, saw Bobby dangling in
mid air some forty feet below him and thirty feet above the deep black
water. He also saw that, supported only by the line, Bobby was in a
strained and perilous as well as most uncomfortable position.