If you promise not to tell anyone, Margaret said, when she finally got to see a doctor, I nearly had it done the old way, you know, with a knitting needle, then I lost my nerve.
In the middle of my glacier I lost my nerve. Real and imagined depths were lurking under the probing axe, and twice I broke through a crust with boot and ferrule. I knew I was courting disaster without a rope.
She tried to pull herself together, but it was impossible. Her voice trembled. Suddenly I’ve lost my nerve. Dawn’s dog dying, now this Labrador who means so much to a handicapped child.
For a sickening moment he swung wildly on the rope and one of his feet slipped a few inches down the wall. Grant’s heart leapt into his mouth and he was convinced Larsen was going to lose his nerve, then his grip on the rope, to plummet down to an unthinkable death.