I prayed in my heart that we might soon
come to a better vantage-ground.

I was no coward, and since leaving home had met with more than one
adventure, but this was the most perilous of all. Despite every effort
to keep firm, my limbs trembled, my head grew dizzy; I was seized by a
strong temptation to launch myself into space. The fit passed as
suddenly as it had come, but I felt the sweat trickling down my face.

Presently we emerged on to a broad platform, and Jose, stopping, seized
my hand. He was trembling now, but it was at the thought of danger
past. One by one the men stole cautiously along while we waited,
watching with fascinated eyes, and drawing a deep breath of relief as
each stepped safely from the perilous path. Whether they had also felt
fearful I could not tell; their faces were wonderfully impassive, and,
except when roused by savage anger, quite expressionless.

At a sign from Jose they dropped to the ground behind a group of
boulders, and he, addressing them in some Indian dialect, issued his
instructions. I gathered very little from his speech; but presently
the men disappeared, gliding like serpents along the side of the
cliffs, and leaving me with Jose and the guide.

"I don't much like this, Jack," said Jose. "I almost wish you had
stayed behind. I hope the colonel can depend on this fellow."

"What is it?" I asked. "I suppose we didn't come out just for the
pleasure of exercising ourselves on that goat-track?"

"No," said he; "though, to be sure, that was an uncommon diversion.
The real thing is just about to begin, and this is the way of it.
According to the guide, La Hera is in a cave close at hand."

"All the more chance of trapping him."

"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