Having thus assumed the leadership, I strove to banish all unmanly fear and boldly sprang on to the end of the rocking-stone that rested on the mainland. Slowly and with caution I crept up its incline until I was directly over the gulf. It was now that the stone should tip, but it seemed that my weight, being less than that of any of the men who had passed over, was not sufficient to balance the rock, so it began to look like a risky thing for me to climb further up the tapering point.
“But it’s got to be done,” I muttered to myself, setting my teeth firmly together; and then, summoning what courage I possessed, I lay close to the rock and crawled steadily upward, digging my toes desperately into the irregular hollows of the surface, to keep from sliding into the gulf that yawned below. Higher and higher I climbed, and at last the huge rock trembled and then gently sank beneath me. For a moment I was exultant; but I had crept so near to the slippery point of the wedge that I could find no rough projection to grasp with my fingers, and therefore as soon as my head became lower than my feet I slid headforemost to the point and tumbled off before the rocking-stone had reached a point of rest upon the peak.
Fortunately, however, I had been carried over the gulf, and although I lay, half-stunned, upon the very edge of the great precipice, I was not much hurt. In another moment I managed to drag myself to a position of greater safety, while the rocking-stone, relieved of my weight, reared its nearest point into the air again and fell slowly back into its original position.
Nux, who had watched breathlessly my adventure and hair-breadth escape, was trembling violently when he in turn mounted the stone. But I called out to reassure him, and his greater weight caused the wedge to tip more quickly, so that he effected the passage to the rocky peak with comparative ease.
Once beside me the faithful fellow began rubbing my limbs briskly to renew their circulation and ease the bruises, and it was not long before I felt sufficiently restored to announce my resolve to continue the adventure.
“Come on, Nux,” said I, scrambling to my feet, “we must get that gold before Daggett and his gang come back.”
The black was staring at the rocking-stone, now removed from our table-like refuge by a good twenty feet.
“How we get back again?” he asked, in perplexity.
“I don’t know,” said I. “That’s a question we’ll have to face afterward. The main thing is to get the gold, and it’s certain that if we can find no way to escape the robbers will be as badly off themselves.”
Nux shook his head.