Then he told me to stop, for that the way grew wider and he would pick me
up again. But here was another difficulty, for the path was still so
narrow and the cliff-wall so close that he could not take me up in his
arms. So I lay flat on my face, and he stepped over me, setting his foot
between my shoulders to do it; and then, while he knelt down upon the
path, I climbed up from behind upon him, putting my arms round his neck;
and so he bore me 'pickaback'. I shut my eyes firm again, and thus we
moved along another spell, mounting still and feeling the wind still
freshening.
At length he said that we were come to the last turn of the path, and he
must set me down once more. So down upon his knees and hands he went, and
I slid off behind, on to the ledge. Both were on all-fours now; Elzevir
first and I following. But as I crept along, I relaxed care for a moment,
and my eyes wandered from the cliff-side and looked down. And far below I
saw the blue sea twinkling like a dazzling mirror, and the gulls wheeling
about the sheer chalk wall, and then I thought of that bloated carcass of
a sheep that had fallen from this very spot perhaps, and in an instant
felt a sickening qualm and swimming of the brain, and knew that I was
giddy and must fall.
Then I called out to Elzevir, and he, guessing what had come over me,
cries to turn upon my side, and press my belly to the cliff.
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