“You’ve said it,” Bennie assented. “Well, so long till tomorrow. Don’t forget to bring some money for that old rope.”
“And don’t you forget that book’s out on my card,” Spider laughed. “Won’t do it any good if you throw it at the cat.”
Bennie made as if to throw it at him, and he ducked quickly out of the door.
CHAPTER II Bennie Takes the Rope Up His First Cliff
The next afternoon the two scouts emerged from Seymour’s store with a hundred feet of brand new half-inch rope, and ran directly into a group of half a dozen of their fellow scouts.
“Hi! Get on to Spider and Bennie!” someone cried. “What you goin’ to do, Bennie, rope a steer?”
“Goin’ to hang yourselves?” somebody else demanded.
“Goin’ to tie up the cat?” came from a third.
“Going to have some spaghetti for supper?” said a fourth.
“Goin’ to fish for minnows through the ice with it?” asked still another.
“No, we’re goin’ to tie up a pound of candy for our dear teacher,” Bennie replied. “Come on, Spider, these guys are too bright for us.”
“Don’t trip over your skipping rope, dearie,” taunted one of the scouts. Bennie hurled a snowball at him and then he and Spider dodged away from a shower of pursuing missiles.
“Well, they didn’t learn much that time,” Spider laughed, as they entered Bennie’s back yard, went into the barn, and threw an end of the rope over a rafter, so that both ends dangled to the floor.
“Now we’ll try coming down the doubled rope,” said Bennie.
He climbed out on the rafter, grasped both strands of the rope, and slid down. Spider followed him.
At the bottom they surveyed their bare palms ruefully.
“Feels as if it was full of splinters,” said Bennie.
“It’s too stiff—it’s like a piece o’ wood,” Spider complained. “Guess it isn’t much like the braided ropes Alpine climbers use. What are we going to do about it?”
“Ask Mr. Rogers,” said Bennie. “We haven’t told him about it yet, anyhow. Come on. Wait a minute, though. No use getting any more questions fired at us.”
He took one end of the rope and pulled the other end down over the beam. Then, while Spider played it out, he spun around and wound it around his body. After that, he put on his mackinaw.
“You look ’s if you weighed about two hundred,” Spider laughed.
They found the scout master at home, and told him their plans, and about the rope. He laughed, and grabbing the loose end, spun Bennie around like a top, while he unwound it.