own, it might be possible--just possible--to do something with
the wall of the chasm above the cave. Of course I knew nothing about
the nature of that wall. It might be as smooth as a polished pillar.

The result of these cogitations was that I decided to prospect the
right wall of the cave close to the waterfall. But first I went
rummaging in the back part to see if I could find anything to assist
me. In one corner there was a rude cupboard with some stone and metal
vessels. Here, too, were the few domestic utensils of the dead Keeper.
In another were several locked coffers on which I could make no
impression. There were the treasure-chests too, but they held nothing
save treasure, and gold and diamonds were no manner of use to me.
Other odds and ends I found--spears, a few skins, and a broken and
notched axe. I took the axe in case there might be cutting to do.

Then at the back of a bin my hand struck something which brought the
blood to my face. It was a rope, an old one, but still in fair
condition and forty or fifty feet long. I dragged it out into the
light and straightened its kinks. With this something could be done,
assuming I could cut my way to the level of the roof.

I began the climb in my bare feet, and at the beginning it was very
bad. Except on the very edge of the abyss there was scarcely a
handhold. Possibly in floods the waters may have swept the wall in a
curve, smoothing down the inner part and leaving the outer to its
natural roughness. There was one place where I had to hang on by a
very narrow crack while I scraped with the axe a hollow for my right
foot. And then about twelve feet from the ground I struck the first of
the iron pegs.

To this day I cannot think what these pegs were for. They were old
square-headed things which had seen the wear of centuries. They cannot
have been meant to assist a climber, for the dwellers of the cave had
clearly never contemplated this means of egress. Perhaps they had been
used for some kind of ceremonial curtain in a dim past. They were
rusty and frail, and one of them came away in my hand, but for all that
they marvellously assisted my ascent.

I had been climbing slowly, doggedly and carefully, my mind wholly
occupied with the task; and almost before I knew I found my head close
under the roof of the cave. It was necessary now to move towards the
river, and the task seemed impossible. I could see no footholds, save
two frail pegs, a