to keep the trophies of
his daring where they were.

"It would look as if I was afraid," he said to himself; and lowering one
foot, he felt for a safe projection, found one, and his other foot
joined the first. A few seconds later his hands were holding the ledge
on which he had just been standing, but his chin was level with them,
and his feet were feeling for the next ledge below, but feeling in vain.

He was disappointed, for experience had taught him that this course of
stones would be about the same thickness as the others, and yet he could
find no crack, not even one big enough to insert his toes.

But he was quite right; the range of stones in that stratum was just
about the same thickness as the others, but the crack between them and
the next in the series, the merest line, over which his feet slipped
again and again, giving him the impression that they were passing over
solid stone; and the birds chose this awkward moment to renew their
struggling and screaming.

"You miserable little wretches," he muttered; "be quiet! Well, it might
be worse. I should have been in a sad pickle if the old birds had
chosen this moment to attack me."

He hung in the same position, with his chin resting on the ledge, as
well as his hands, till the birds were quiet again, and then wondering
whether Ralph Darley was still watching, he slowly let his muscles
relax, and his body subside, till he hung at full stretch, seeking
steadily the while for foot-hold, but finding none, and forced now to
look down between his chest and the rock, to see how far the next ledge
might be.

To his disgust, it was quite two feet lower, and it was forced upon him
that unless he could climb back to the ledge upon which his hands were
clasped, he must let himself drop to the resting-place below.

It was no time for hesitation, and condensing his energies upon what he
knew to be a difficult task, he drew himself up by strong muscular
contraction till his chin once more rested between his hands, and then
grasped the bitter fact that to get up and stand upon the ledge was
impossible; it was too narrow, and he could find no foot-hold to help.

Accepting the position, he let himself sink again to the full length of
his arms, hung motionless for a few moments, and then, keeping himself
perfectly rigid, allowed his fingers to glide over the stone, and
dropped the two feet to the ledge below, perfectly upright and firm. In
all probability he would h