?"

"I think not, Dick. It would only make a clatter, and it is no matter
to us whether they find it in the morning or not. You had better
follow me. I know every foot of the ground, and there are some nasty
places, I can tell you."

They had to make several detours, to avoid ravines running deep into
the plateau, and for a time Captain Holland walked very cautiously.
When he had passed these, he stepped out briskly, and in less than an
hour from starting they were near the edge of the precipice. Their
eyes had, by this time, become accustomed to the darkness.

"We are just there now," Captain Holland said. "But we must go very
cautiously, for the rock falls sheer away, without warning. Ah! There
is the edge, a few yards ahead of me.

"Now, do you stay where you are, while I feel about for that spear
head I put in to mark the place. It had about three feet of the staff
on it. If it were not for that, there would be small chance of finding
it. I know it is somewhere close here."

In a few minutes he returned to them.

"I have found it," he said. "Keep close behind me."

After walking for fifty yards, he stopped.

"Here it is, lads.

"Now give me those spears, Dick."

He thrust them firmly into the ground, a few inches apart.

"Throw your weight on them, too," he said. "That is right. Now they
will stand many times the strain we shall put on them.

"I have chosen this place, Dick, for two reasons. In the first place,
because it is the most perpendicular, and in the second, because the
soil and grass project slightly over the edge of the rock. There is a
cushion in that bundle, and four spear heads. I will peg it down close
to the edge, and the rope will run easily over it.

"Now, Surajah, we had better let you down first. You will be tied
quite securely, and there will be no risk whatever, as you know, of
the rope giving way. I should advise you to keep your eyes shut, till
you get to the bottom, for the rope will certainly twist round and
round; but keep your arms well in front of you, and whenever you feel
the rock, open your eyes, and send yourself off with your arms and
legs. I don't think you will touch, for at this point it seemed to me,
as I looked down, that the rock projects farther out than anywhere
else on the face of the precipice, and that a stone dropped straight
down would fall some fourteen or fifteen feet from its foot. Would you
like me to bandage your eyes?"

"No, thank you. I will kee