You had better creep to the edge of the roof with it before you release your hold.

Do you understand ?" He nodded silently, his eyes gazing unwaveringly into mine.

I held forth my hand to him, moved by the sudden impulse of such a movement.
As he gave me his own in response it felt as cold as ice, yet I marked his grip was strong.
"As soon as I coil in the rope you had better creep down and go home," I explained, speaking slowly, for somehow I felt it strangely hard to part with this last tie between the present and the uncertain future.
"You can be no further use to me; Madame will be anxious to hear your report, while it might prove exceedingly awkward for one of your cloth to be trapped here after this night's work is discovered by the Dons.
So now good-bye; you are a man of nerve, even if you are a priest, and I am glad to have been comrade with you." I heard him answer something as I slowly crept down to the edge, testing again the feel of the rope before venturing to swing off upon it.

I was not unaccustomed to those adventures incident to rough life on the frontier; my nerves were not easily jarred by strange experiences, yet I hold it no pleasant sensation to swing out on a thirty-foot line at that height, amid utter darkness, especially when you feel uncertain as to its secure fastening at the farther end.
Moreover, the priest's robe hampered my movements sadly, while, being no light-weight, the strands of the small cord cut my hands.

I durst not hurry, but took the passage inch by inch, gritting my teeth as I hung suspended above the abyss, lest I might emit a cry.