"I'm not so sure of that. The entrance to the cave is some sixty feet from the ground, in the side of a steep cliff."
"Well, we've had some experience in mountain-climbing."
"Yes, but not this sort. The face of the cliff is as perpendicular as the side of a house."
"The other fellows got up."
"So they did, but it was in the daylight, and there was no one at the top waiting to pop them off with a bullet. It seems the bandits have been in the habit of using this cave as a depot, and one of them guided La Hera there with the real object of betraying him."
"Ugh!" said I; "these traitors make me sick."
"Just so; but they are very useful. Without the help of this one, for instance, we can't capture La Hera, unless we starve him out."
"What does he propose to do?"
"Well, there is a stout rope fixed in the cave which he will let down at the right moment. Up this we shall have to climb by help of the niches that have been cut in the cliff."
"Suppose La Hera finds it out, and is waiting to receive us?"