"Well, come on, then." And then, turning to his attentive comrades, he added, "so soon as the rope falls, cling on to it without fear."
"Yes," the conspirators said.
The Jaguar then planted his dagger in a crevice above his head, and with the help of his hands and feet, raised himself sufficiently to thrust in a second dagger above the first. The first step was taken; from dagger to dagger the Jaguar reached, in a few minutes, a species of platform about two square yards in width, where it was possible to draw breath. Lanzi arrived almost with him.
"Well," said the latter, "this trip is rather amusing; it is only a pity that it is so dark."
"All the better; on the contrary," the Jaguar replied, "we need not fear a dizziness."
"By my faith, that is true," said the half-breed, who cared as little for a dizziness as he did for a grain of sand.
They examined the spot where they were. It was a species of hollow, probably excavated by time in the sides of the rock. Unfortunately, over this hollow the rock formed a projection, rendering any further ascent impossible. While the Jaguar was seeking on either side the means to continue his climb, the half-breed, thinking it useless to fatigue himself, sat down quietly in the crevice to shelter himself from the wind.
The end of the hollow was covered by a thick curtain of shrubs, against which Lanzi leaned with the confiding delight of a man who is glad to rest himself, if only for a moment, after his fatigue; but the shrubs gave way under his weight, and the half-breed fell down at his full length.
"Hilloa!" he said, with that magnificent coolness which never deserted him, "What's this?"
"Will you be quiet?" the Jaguar exclaimed, as he hurried up, "or we shall be found out. What has happened to you?"