"So much the better, for the ascent will be difficult. We will throw you a lasso; you must tie it to your body, and we will draw you up, as you do not appear to be in a position to climb, with a cord."
"Throw me down cord. I will keep it away from the edge, and fix it firmly at a certain distance, so as not to be swayed about."
"Well! Wait; we will pay you out the cord."
The Indian disappeared, but almost immediately a pretty thick cord, with knots a little apart from each other, descended slowly. They had attached a stone of a good weight to the end, to prevent it from drifting about However, the wind was still so high that notwithstanding this precaution it was so driven about as to seriously disquiet the young man.
However, when the stone touched the platform, either from its weight, or because the storm had lost its intensity, it was easy enough for the young man to take it. He immediately occupied himself in fixing it firmly in the fissure of the rock.
Then the young man, for whom this ascent, perilous as it would have been for anyone else, was but child's play, thanks to his strength and skill, seized the cord and mounted.
Four men received him, when he put his foot on the path.
"Welcome to terra firma!" said the one who appeared to be the master, laughing and holding out his hand.
"Thank you," answered Zeno Cabral, and at last, overcome by so many emotions; he sank, half fainting, into the arms of his unknown friends.
They, with the gentlest solicitude, used every means in their power to restore his failing energies, with what success we shall see later on.