e first of the blood royal. But what is your second plan?"

By way of answer, she pointed to the cliff above them. On the right-hand
side, facing the archway, was a flat ledge overhanging the valley, at a
height of about a hundred feet.

"If you can come yonder," she said, "it will be easy to storm this gate,
for there lie rocks in plenty, and men cannot fight when stones are
dropping on their heads."

"But how can we come to that home of vultures, where never man has set
a foot? Look, the cliff above is sheer; no rock-rabbit could stand upon
it."

With her eye Noma measured the distance from the brink of the precipice
to the broad ledge commanding the valley.

"Sixty paces, not more," she said. "Well, yonder are oxen in plenty, and
out of their hides ropes can be made, and out of ropes a ladder, down
which men may pass; ten, or even five, would be enough."

"Well thought of Noma," said Hafela. "Hokosa told us last night that to
him had passed the wisdom of the Messenger; but if this be so, I think
that to you has passed the guile of Hokosa."

"It seems to me that some of it abides with him," answered Noma
laughing.

Then the prince gave orders, and, with many workers of hides toiling at
it, within two hours the ladder was ready, its staves, set twenty inches
apart, being formed of knob-kerries, or the broken shafts of stabbing
spears. Now they lowered it from the top of the precipice so that its
end rested upon the ledge, and down it came several men, who swung upon
its giddy length like spiders on a web. Reaching this great shelf in
safety and advancing to the edge of it, these men started a boulder,
which, although as it chanced it hurt no one, fell in the midst of a
group of the defenders and bounded away through them.

"Now we must be going," said Hokosa, looking up, "for no man can fight
against rocks, and our spears cannot reach those birds. Had the army
been taught the use of the bow, as I counselled in the past days, we
might still have held the archway; but they called it a woman's weapon,
and would have none of it."

As he spoke another stone fell, crushing the life out of a man who stood
next to him. Then they retreated to the first wall, which had been piled
up during the night, where it was not possible to roll rocks upon them
from the cliffs above. This wall, and others reared at intervals behind
it, they set to work to strengthen as much as they could, making the
most of the time that was lef