Then with that calmness usual to him the hunter advanced to the edge of the barranca. On reaching the lasso, he took it in both hands, and turned to his comrades.
"Look," he said with that carelessness which he never could put off; "the sight costs nothing."
And gently, without hurrying, with the coolness of a professor giving a lesson, he crossed the canyon backwards, in order to show his friends how they were to manage. On reaching the opposite bank, where he left his rifle, he quietly returned to his friends—the latter had anxiously watched him, trembling involuntarily at the danger he had incurred.
"I hope," he said, when he remounted the platform, "that you are now quite sure the lasso is firm, and you will not hesitate."
Without replying, Curumilla crossed.
"There's one," Valentine said with a laugh; "there is no difficulty about it. Whose turn next?"
"Mine," Don Pablo answered.
He crossed.
"Now it is my turn," Don Miguel said.
"Go," Valentine replied.