after food, I came to a place in the rock
where the walk suddenly ended. A little further on and higher up it
was as good as any part I had yet gone over; but the intervening space
of scarcely more than a dozen feet was very steep, and, what was
remarkable, loose stones lay upon its surface as though they had slid
down from above. This slide seemed to have been occasioned by a
softness of the rock in that part, causing it to scale off in thin
pieces, which the slightest disturbance would send rattling down the
mountain. Just beyond these loose stones was a smooth surface of very
steep rock, over which it would be necessary to pass in order to reach
the path beyond.

I paused here; and after Pippity had brought the fruit and I had
finished my dinner, I began seriously to discuss the question whether
or not I ought to attempt the passage of this dangerous interval.
Pippity seemed to understand my intentions quite well, for he grew very
uneasy, and in his queer ways, with snatches of singularly applicable
speech, he remonstrated most strenuously. But we now were not very far
from the top, and so fascinating seemed the prospect of reaching the
very pinnacle, that I could not withstand the impulse of making the
effort to get there. Over the loose stones I scrambled, clinging with
hands and feet as best I could, whilst an avalanche of rocky fragments
slid, tumbled, and rattled ominously down the declivity.

I got my hands upon the smooth rock, but at my feet the loose stones
were slipping rapidly away; this, in a moment more, would leave me
without support and mercilessly let me follow them. But Pippity, who
had been flying around me in the greatest excitement, got just above
me, and planting his toes firmly against the rock, seized me by the
shoulder. Then, holding on with a most determined grip of his bill, he
pulled like a Trojan; and I do verily believe the bird saved my life.
By dint of his pulling and backing upward, seconded by my own frantic
efforts to shuffle up the rock, I succeeded in gaining the foothold
beyond. At least he inspired me with fresh resolution and confidence in
helping myself.

After a little rest, we went on, winding around a succession of short
spirals, and at last reached the highest point of this magnificent
mountain!

* * * * *

What a sensation!

Perched here on the extreme point of a pinnacle more than four thousand
feet above the vast plain of rich fert