"
This was true, as the guide demonstrated, and his party walked along
the narrow ledge without any fear of being precipitated over; all it
required was a good eye and a steady nerve, and they possessed these
necessary qualifications.
The guide at length came to a halt, and said:
"You stand here and I'll get my bridge."
He proceeded along alone, but soon returned with two saplings, which he
had strung together, and of which he had made a rope ladder.
Desmond was greatly interested, and watched the guide as he threw his
ladder across the intervening abyss, and then he said:
"It will take a little nerve to crawl over, but once over we are all
safe, and I've got a storehouse over there. I prepared this place with a
great deal of patience and labor. We can spend two or three days here. I
know you will enjoy it, and we can take a good long rest. I will go over
first and then hold the light so you two can follow."
Desmond glanced at Brooks, and asked:
"Will you risk it?"
"Yes, I will, lad; I am not the fellow I was about six months ago; I can
climb a steeple now."
The guide went over, creeping across. The saplings bent under his weight
and made a downward curve, so that when he attempted so ascend on the
opposite side it was a climb up, but with the ropes made of woven
prairie grass and sticks and boughs he easily ascended.
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