The strain was terrific.

The careless smile was gone from his lips.

In that instant he no longer ignored what lay behind him; he knew the suspense of the gambler who pauses after he has thrown before he lifts the dice-box to read his fate.
Up, and still up! The grass was beginning to yield in his clutching fingers; he dug them into the earth below.

Now his shoulders were above the edge; his chest also, heaving with strenuous effort.

To lower himself again was impossible.