The evening breeze that met us revived my
companion considerably, and she was able to stand up and thank me
in her girlish way for delivering her from her dangerous plight.
When she was sufficiently recovered to speak, she told me how it
was she had fallen into the water.
She had found a large tarpaulin spread out as though it covered
some hidden boxes, and, calling to me, she had tried to raise the
tarpaulin to look beneath it. But in standing up to do so she
unfortunately missed her foothold on the slippery rock, and falling
backward was plunged into the stream; and this was all that she
knew, except that being swept along by the water and struggling to
keep afloat she happened to touch a rock at the side, and had there
held on until, as she had expected, I was able to help her.
Having thus far got out of the cave, there remained yet the
difficulty of climbing up the cliff in the twilight. If I could get
Thora as far as the rope, I felt that the rest would be
comparatively easy. But she was very weak and cold, and I feared
for the result.
Fortunately, the shelf of rock along which we had to pass was
sufficiently wide for us to walk along by clinging to the cliff.
This was done with great care, and when the rope was reached I
bound it several times round her waist and secured it firmly under
her arms.
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