He was sure she would look, and--she would be disappointed if she looked in vain.

One must not disappoint a child.
The memory of her went through him, vivid, enchanting, compelling.

It nerved his sinking heart.

It renewed his grip on life.

It urged him upwards.
Only a child! Only a child! But yet-- "I shall not--shall not--fail you!" he gasped, and with the words his knees reached the top of the cliff.
His strength collapsed instantly, like the snapping of a fiddle-string.
He fell forward on his face, and lay prone...
A little later he worked the whole of his body into security, rolled over on his back with closed eyes to the sky, and waited while his heart slowed down to its normal rhythmic beat.
At last, quite suddenly, he sat up and looked around him.