hands were blistered and cut by the sharp edges of the rocks, and my
movements were seriously hampered by the musket slung at my back.

The descent was terribly fatiguing. The way across the quicksands had
been so level that we had walked, counting our paces mechanically, but
now in every movement there was danger, and terror gripped my heart with
a gauntlet of steel. From every pore there broke from me a cold
perspiration, as from each tiny projection I lowered myself, not knowing
whether my feet would find another resting-place. For my black
companions, who were taller and more muscular, the way was not nearly so
difficult, and Kona, aware of this, assisted me whenever possible.

Once, when I found myself progressing well, and apparently having
successfully negotiated the more dangerous of these natural steps, I
paused for a few moments to breathe, and, summoning courage, looked down
to where the others were scrambling below. I was then amazed to discover
that, notwithstanding all the fatigue, the distance I had covered was
scarcely perceptible. I still seemed almost as far from the base of the
rock as I was when first I had peered over into the abyss. Suddenly,
without warning, I felt the rock give way beneath my feet, and the next
instant the whole projection, loosened by the weight of Omar and his
followers who had preceded me, fell away beneath me, and crashed straight
down into the valley.

My presence of mind caused me just at that instant to grip the ledge
above, otherwise I, too, must have gone with my unstable resting-place.
It was indeed a narrow escape, and as clinging on with my hands, my legs
again swinging in mid air, I heard the heavy rock, weighing perhaps a
ton, strike a projection under me and then crash down, carrying all
before it.

There was an appalling shriek from below, and I dreaded to turn my gaze
downward, fearing that my companions had been swept away by the great
mass of stone. At last, however, I looked in trepidation and was
gratified to notice that the projection struck by the rock had been left
by the man preceding me, and that the course of the descending stone had
been altered so that all had escaped.

"Careful up there!" shouted Omar angrily. "Don't spring upon the steps,
or they will become loosened like that one. It might have swept the
whole lot of us into the valley if its course had not been turned. Lower
yourselves slowly--very slowly--take plenty of time."

"I did it, O