"Jerry Oltion & Kent Patterson - Dutchmans Gold" - читать интересную книгу автора (Oltion Jerry)

replying.

"What did he say?" asked Sarah.

"I can't make out a word, but at least he's alive. Let's see if we can get down
there."

"I could, if I had a rope," said Sarah.

There was a rope, a first aid kit, and desert emergency rations back in the van.
At the moment, they might as well have been on Jupiter.

"Here. Give me your belts," Sarah said. She'd already taken hers off. Taking
Jan's and Frieda's, she fastened them together. "Now, Jan, you and Frieda hold
me. I'm going to lean over the edge and try to see the bottom."

"That's dangerous. You should let me do it," said Jan.

"No. I'm lighter than you, and I've done rock climbing. Frieda, you hang onto
Jan and brace him."

Jan and Frieda clung to the belt while Sarah grasped the other end and leaned
out over the edge.

"I think I see him," she yelled when lightning lit up the sky again. "Let me out
just a little farther -- yow!"

Sarah screamed as the mud ridge collapsed under their feet. Jan twisted in mid
air, trying to reach more solid ground. Frieda clutched at his clothes as all
three plunged over the edge and tumbled down the slope in a mudslide.

Near the bottom, a thick clump of bushes broke their fall. Jan landed on top of
Sarah, then Frieda landed on top of him, nearly knocking his wind out. He gasped
for breath.

"Anyone hurt?" Peter said, standing over them.

"I guess not," Sarah mumbled. "But I remember now why I gave up rock climbing."

"I'm okay, I guess. Only filthy," said Frieda.

Jan moaned in a positive manner.

"I told you guys to stay away from the edge. It's overhung," said Peter.

"We couldn't hear you in the storm," Jan said.

"What storm? It's been gone since the second I fell into this ravine."

Astonished, Jan looked into the sky. Stars shone bright and clear around a