"Nor would it be any trick if the light were a trifle better.

As it is, I may miss a throw or two in getting firm hold.

It would prove risky business attempting to pass across a line insecure at one end.

Lie down now, _pere_, and keep as quiet as if you were dead." In instant obedience to my words the priest stretched himself at full length behind the low wooden gutter.

Rising cautiously to my feet, I passed the cord with utmost care through my fingers, testing its strands again, making certain it remained perfectly free for the toss.
For a moment I stood thus, swaying forward at the very edge of the roof, my eyes measuring again and again the hazy, uncertain distance stretching away toward that slight undulating shadow.