aved his hand, and smiled as he called
across to us, "It is as God wills!" and so dropped away from the ledge,
and like a flash went down beyond our range of sight.

We felt the jar on the ropes as his body struck against the face of the
cliff far below us, and the reflex action as he swung out again, and
thereafter the slower motion of the ropes as he swayed back and forth
dangling over that black and awful chasm. And as the ropes settled into
steadiness we drew him up towards us; yet dreaded, because of the dull
weight of it, and because no assuring cry came up to us, that what we
lifted was a corpse.

And, in truth, as we raised the body of Fray Antonio over the edge of
the cliff it seemed as though this dread were realized; for a great
bloody gash was upon his temple, and his limbs were limp and lifeless,
and his face was deathly pale. At sight of which there came into my
heart a bursting pain, as though some one had stabbed me there; and
there were tears in Young's eyes; and Rayburn gave vent to his sorrow in
a great curse that was half a groan. As for Pablo, whom no danger could
daunt, and who would bear without flinching any hurt of his own, this
dreadful sight so moved him that he fainted dead away.

Yet even in the moment that such deep sorrow seemed to be settling down
upon us, Fray Antonio slightly moved his lips, and there came forth from
them a low faint sigh--whereupon Young jumped up with a shout and
relieved his mind by administering to Pablo a hearty kick, which he
accompanied with the remark: "You infernal fool of a Greaser Indian,
what do you mean by swoundin'? He ain't dead at all!"

As tenderly as I could for the trembling of my hands, I washed away the
blood from about the cut and bathed Fray Antonio's pale face, while
Rayburn gave him a sup of whiskey from his flask. And then, presently,
his eyes opened and energy came into his body once more. In a little
while he was on his feet again, and as well as ever, save for the
smarting of his cut, and in his head a dizziness and a dull throbbing
pain. Just what had happened he could not tell. He knew that he had
struck against the rock with his feet, as he had planned to do; but he
must have swung around, when the force of the impact had been thus
partly broken, and struck his head against some sharp projection, and so
have been cut and stunned. But it made no great difference how his hurt
had come to him, since it had not proved to be a deadly one; t