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.