"
We stretched out our necks and looked, and I tried to thrust back the
exclamation that came to my lips. Directly beneath the polished part of
the rim, and about four feet below it, was a ledge barely three feet
wide, and this narrow path wound away to the right and disappeared
through a cavernous opening in the brightly tinted walls of the crater.
The ledge was bare and unprotected, polished to the same velvety
smoothness as the spot on the rim near which we stood, and when one
looked at it and then let his eyes glance over the infernal depths that
were immediately beneath, the brain reeled with thoughts of the danger
to which a climber would be exposed while making his way along it to the
cavern in the wall.
Holman took a great breath of air and turned savagely upon Leith.
"What sort of a fool game are you up to?" he cried. "What do you mean?"
Leith's lower jaw came forward menacingly. "You had better hold your
tongue!" he roared. "If you don't I'll--I'll----"
He stopped and glared at the young fellow, a murderous expression
creeping over his sallow face. The half-voiced objection to the route
had stirred all the sleeping devil in him, and the big stubby fingers
crooked as if certain they would be called upon to grip Holman's throat.
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