After tugging on the root, took a deep breath, grabbed it with both hands and began the difficult ascent. Push

After tugging on the root, took a deep breath, grabbed it with both hands and began the difficult ascent. Pushing with his feet against the slope, and grabbing the root with both his hands, he climbed higher and higher. Only his heavy breathing and the faint creaking of the root broke the deadly silence. Suddenly, dust poured down from the top of the slope, and the root began to slide from the ground!